How to Raise Your Ghostbuster
by GhostDragoness
Summary: It all started with Ray & Rita Stantz's extensive argument during a routine assignment at the city museum; their troubles soon caused them to tear apart as a strange teleportation device mysteriously opens, taking Rita away. Now Ray & the others must find another way in order to rescue Rita using the help of a black dragon that somehow escaped at the moment Rita disappeared.
1. Chapter 1

_Part One: Just another Screwed up Day at the Office_

"_O_h come on Ray, it's not fair!" Rita cried with an agitated tone.

Ray replied as well. "No Rita, I can't let you do this; it's too dangerous!"

It was just another day at the Ghostbusters Headquarters of New York City, NY; apparently there had been a recent call about a disturbance held around the _**Museum of Natural History**_ in downtown. Mainly Egon Spengler and Winston Zeddemore have already set up the next training session for the assignment, and so the recruits have all prepared themselves for the next busting. Well, _almost_ all the recruits were prepared.

"I am not taking any chances Rita; you are _not_ going with them!" Ray continued with a worried tone.

"Then why did you hire me in the first place?!" Rita replied.

One of the recruits, Oscar Venkman, couldn't help but listen to the extensive argument between Ray and Rita Stantz. He became a little worried but wasn't sure at first of what the two were arguing over, but most of the time it sounded as though it was about protection, regarding how much Ray has done for Rita.

"Man, the Stantzs have argued for over an hour now," He said. "What do you think this whole thing's about?"

"I heard Ray saying how this coming assignment's based on a possible Class-VII Extra-Dimensional Metaspecter… or something like that." Jenny explained. "And he doesn't want to get Rita involved, how it's too dangerous for her, blah blah blah, you know all that other stuff."

"But… we're _all_ going over there to stop it. I mean each one of us, including the original guys, are gonna just take out whatever's bothering the public and then boom, everything goes back to normal. I don't see why Ray can't let Rita go with us; he's coming too, right?"

"Wrong." Elwood replied with a slight disappointed tone.

"What?" Jenny asked. "Why not?"

"I thought he was going too, but apparently I overheard Winston and Egon saying Ray can't attend the event, despite he's gone over to check it out early this past morning. So now he's trying to convince Rita not to go as well. It doesn't make much sense, I know."

"Maybe Ray's developed some kind of conscious bad feeling about this assignment," Joseph added. "But you know, somebody's got to go down and deal with it."

"It's not that easy, you know that; besides, this is just between only Ray and Rita. It's best we do not include ourselves… maybe… if things get a little out of hand."

As the recruits' conversation ended, they began to hear footsteps coming from the staircase. Sure enough, Ray came walking down the stairwell with a combined look of disturbance and worry, possibly from the argument. Rita followed behind with a more angered expression, but not as much, surprisingly; however, she still feels a little agitated by the confusion of the conversation.

"Oh my God, why do you have to be so complicated all the time;" Rita continued. "It's just for one lousy freaking day, let me go out there and bust this thing's ass! I'll even stay close to the guys, how about that?! I'll prove it to you if you'd just-"

"STOP! Just-stop it!" Ray interrupted angrily, but didn't mean to do so. Something really deep inside Ray kept telling him today's assignment wasn't a good idea for Rita to attend.

Around the same time, Winston came upstairs from the basement, dressed in uniform and prepared for the event. He walked up to the recruits as he carried up an extra proton pack in his hands, opened the back door of Ecto-1, and as he packed in the weapon he spoke to the recruits. "Kids go ahead and board in, Egon and I will join up in a couple minutes."

As the recruits board into Ecto-1, Ray spoke once more to Rita, trying to put an end to argument once and for all. "Rita, I don't want you to think it's all because of probation, or the retraining you've been surprisingly catching up on, and it's certainly not because of the time you were almost possessed by a Class IV Demon Possessor…"

"That's because _you_ got yourself in my way as I had a clear shot of that thing;" Rita replied. "I had to use almost _two_ gallons of positively charged slime to de-possess your ass!"

"I was only trying to protect you!"

"Yeah, that's the _only_ problem with you, you're _**overprotective**_! You know, ever since I signed up to this job, all you kept doing is keeping me right under your 'wings' and you barely let me do anything on my own anymore! I know you're only trying to bring our old relationship back but this is getting out of control; _you're _out of control! I thought you actually _want_ me to be a Ghostbuster-"

"I DO! … I really do; I _know_ you'll be a great Ghostbuster, it's just… well… not today. I have this serious, unusual bad feeling something will go wrong if I let you go out there, even if it's _with_ the others. I can't do it, I can't risk it; I'll _never_ forgive myself if I do. There'll be plenty of other assignments in the future-"

"What if there won't be?" Rita asked once more.

"Don't you _dare_ say that!"

"It's just a hypothetical question; I believe in the business, and I want to keep it going if you'd just let me do this with the guys! And maybe it'll boost up my training progresses _and_ my college courses!"

"I can't let you…"

"Why are you holding me back-?!"

"I DON'T WANT TO LOSE YOU!" Ray cried as he grabbed Rita by both of her arms very tightly and begins to shake her a little by the fear he was so deeply feeling all at the same time.

Everything became immediately quiet all of a sudden. Ray couldn't help it, he just wanted Rita to be safe but at most times he does get a little carried away. Rita stared at her uncle with a baffled expression as Ray slowly calmed himself down; he looked into his niece's eyes, loosened his grip a little from Rita's arms, and he softly spoke.

"… I don't wanna lose you, sweetheart, I can't afford it. You're the only other family I have in this world, and I can't lose it all."

Rita shook her head a little, thinking Ray's finally lost his mind.

She replied softly. "You're _not_ going to lose me Ray; you're not letting me into this assignment because you're too afraid of what might happen to me. Just for once, let me go on my own; I'll come back in one piece, I swear it."

Ray however, just sighed as he still felt the same bad feeling inside himself. He spoke once more. "I'm sorry Rita, but I can't risk it all for today; you're not ready to handle situations like this. When I took a quick review this morning, I saw something in that museum so powerful; I knew for sure you wouldn't be able to take it. I swear to God Rita, it's unlike anything I let you experience!"

"Then let me go out there and stop it!" Rita said once more.

"No, it's too dangerous! You are not going and that… is… FINAL!"

"Will you- Aaargh!"

Rita then took a couple deep breaths and cried once more. "-Just FORGET IT!"

Finally, Rita stomped back upstairs in anger.

Winston, although most of the time pretended not to hear the whole conversation, finally locked up Ecto-1 for the event but at the same time he felt the Stantzs argument had gone out of hand. So, he tries to make things a little better soon after Rita ran back upstairs.

"(Sigh) I hate to say this Ray," He spoke. "But your niece is right; you have been acting a little overprotective of her. You know you're not always gonna be there for her."

"That's the one mistake I don't ever want to make again!" Ray replied. "I lost her once Winston, for too long, I don't ever want to lose her again."

"But you were there for every important moment for her."

"I wasn't there every _single_ day for her! I don't want that to ever happen again. I just want to do what's right, and to let her know I'm still willing to do everything for her; I want to do what a real father would do for his child. I want to be that _real_ father for Rita, and do whatever it takes to even let her see that she'll always be a daughter to me."

Secretly, Ray shed at least one teardrop from his right eye, not letting Winston notice.

Winston spoke once more. "Ray you're a good uncle to Rita, but you know, eventually Rita's going to get out there on her own and maybe you can't stop her. My kids are out most of the time on their own, but they even know I'll always be there for them, and today's one of those days. Just think about it Ray and then maybe you'll take it easy next time."

Then Winston finally climbed into the passenger's side of Ecto-1.

Egon appeared from the basement, all dressed in uniform and finally walked up to the driver's side of Ecto-1. Before he board in however, he noticed Ray's presence on the other side of the vehicle; then he asked with a slight confused tone.

"You sure you're not coming with us Ray?"

Ray stared at Egon, but replied with a soft tone. "You guys go on ahead, I'll be fine."

"Okay, if you say so."

So Egon climbed into Ecto-1 and finally start up her engines. The firehouse doors opened automatically by the switch of a door control from inside the car, and Ecto-1 finally drove out of the building and quickly speed up through West Broadway, driving toward the _**Museum of Natural History**_.

Around the back alley of the firehouse, one of the second floor's windows opened and out came Rita; she was dressed in her uniform, all geared and strapped on with the Proton Pack, a pair of Para goggles were worn around her head, her utility belt was geared with the Ghost Trap, PKE Meter, and a few hand held Ghost Bombs in which Egon and Elwood invented recently for most spectral knock-outs whenever a 'buster comes within near contact. Strapped around Rita's upper body as well, was her famous Ecto-5; a skateboard with a built in Mini Muon Trap in which she used at one time to trap a spirited skateboarder during a skateboarding duel that was held some time ago around eastern Manhatten.

Rita climbed out of the window and began to climb down a nearby fire escape route until she finally reached toward the ground. She unzipped her skateboard satchel, pulled out Ecto-5, and set it down to the ground preparing it for takeoff.

"Can't do this assignment on my own, huh?" Rita said with a sarcastic tone as she thought back of the argument with her uncle. "We'll see about _that_ once I bag this spectral s.o.b. for _myself_!"

Then, Rita finally jumped onto Ecto-5 and took off in a flash by one swipe of her foot.

While on the way toward their destination, the Ghostbusters began to review over the assignment and the possibility of what they may encounter some time soon.

"Let's see, according to Ray's studies here, we're about to confront a possible Class VII Extra-Dimensional Metaspecter that's been terrorizing the museum visitors." Elwood explained as he skimmed through some of the notes. "It says here, some of the initial manifestation points are mostly held at the north wing of the museum."

"Isn't that where they're holding up that Dragons exhibit?" Jenny asked. "I heard one of the classmates back at the University saying how ever since the museum opened that exhibit some time ago, something started to act very strangely. Like at one time a student told me one of the replicated dragon heads started to move on its own, a few bone fragments started to levitate, and even a painting of a dragon description started to like, you know, animate itself like it was a movie."

"Well you guys know they've just had the exhibit open for a couple days now," Joseph replied. "Things just don't automatically go _Night at the Museum_ all in one day, right?"

"Not necessarily," Egon replied. "Winston, remember they used to have that Gozer museum exhibit back in 1991?"

"Wow, yeah I remember it like it was just yesterday," Winston explained. "And to think an actual Shandor descendant was the cause of it all. Of course, she didn't actually do it on purpose; she was even almost used as a blood sacrifice."

"However, I believe this exhibit might have a similar occurrence as that of the Gozerian Configuration as well as its Mandala Node. Whatever's the cause, it's certainly starting out at the museum."

"Perfect, its 1991 all over again."

Then, Oscar began to join the conversation. "Wait a minute, you guys do know we're about to go check over a museum exhibit that's mostly about something that doesn't even exist. I mean, how exactly do _dragons _have any connection with the supernatural anyway?"

"Oscar, if you were around back in 1987, you would understand that the term of _supernatural_ contains a lot _more_ than just ghosts." Egon said.

Almost half an hour later, the Ghostbusters finally arrived at the Museum of Natural History; the building had been evacuated for some time, but the only other person still inside was the museum's curator. He stood in front of the main doors as he anxiously waited for the Ghostbusters' arrival. Soon after they parked Ecto-1 Egon, Winston, and the recruits all stepped out of the vehicle and began to unload the back of the car.

While the recruits strapped on their proton packs, Egon and Winston, both armed with only the Arm Packs, took the time discussing with the curator about the event going on for some time.

"Things had been acting strangely since we opened that dragon exhibit," He said with a slight nervous tone. "And the weirdest thing is that this exhibit is only about something that doesn't even exist. Of course I had no other option and that you do seem to be the only ones who can handle situations like this."

"Don't worry, we've handled something very similar to this," Winston replied.

Moments later, all of the recruits, Winston, and Egon finally entered the museum and began to search through a couple exhibits, checking over to make sure there were no other spectral inhabitants lurking around the building.

Back at the firehouse, Ray had just finished completing some payments for the month as well as he also finished some reports for the trainees' progress for their training programs. However, he couldn't get over the furious conversation he had with Rita awhile ago; somehow he felt a little bad for most of the things he said, despite they were mostly about the protection of his own niece. Ray couldn't help it; he just wanted to do what was right for Rita. So, he then decided to try and settle things down between him and her. Ray exits his office space and began to walk up toward the recruits' bunk room.

Inside, Ray saw the bunk room now a deserted area, but found no trace of Rita in plain sight; until he noticed a disfigured lump on one of the beds, looking like it was a person sleeping. So Ray figured it was actually Rita sleeping in bed, despite it was only 3:00pm in the afternoon. Ray walked up to the bed and finally sat down beside the figure, careful not to wake her up in an instant. He stared down at the bed-ridden lump with a worried but sad look on his face and finally spoke with a soft tone in his voice.

"Rita, sweetheart, (sigh) listen I just wanted to tell you I… I'm so sorry for what happened today; it's just… I was only trying to keep you safe and unharmed. I was only doing… what a real father would do for his child. I may not _be_ your father sweetie, but I just… want you to know _you_ will always be-"

Before he could finish, Ray finally noticed something unusual about the strange lump in the bed; so he stood to his feet and finally pulled the covers off, revealing no _body_, but actually two pillows for the upper and lower body, a small soccer ball for the head, and an old dismembered Neutron Wand in replacement of legs. All this was in placement as possibly a distraction mainly to fool only Ray, and sure enough Ray fell for it. But now he feels very angry as well as he felt a suspicious hunch as to who did this.

"Goddamn it," He cried furiously. "She did it again!"

After two hours of searching around the museum, the recruits all arrived into the north wing of the building and finally entered the new museum exhibit about _dragons_. Egon and Winston followed behind as they noticed some of the mock-up replicas of different dinosaur-like heads, some glass cases were filled with different bone fragments of possible reptilian-like creatures, a few jars were filled with smaller lizard-like animals that looked a bit like they were dragons; there was even a small section of the exhibit that talks about dragons in the entertainment, and there were also some small statuettes and figurines along with more bone structures and fragments of the possibilities of what dragons may have looked like if they really were in existence today.

"Well, I got to admit this is a pretty interesting exhibit." Jenny said.

"All this is actually are scientific theories, opinions, and mythologies of a creature or creatures that only exist in the imagination. We all know there is no such existence of dragons at all." Elwood explained.

"_No such existence_, Elwood;" Egon said with a slight disturbed look on his face. "Let me explain to you about _my_ side of the story."

Then, Oscar cried from the center of the exhibit. "Hey guys, check this out!"

So the rest of the recruits, Winston, and Egon rushed over toward Oscar's location as they now stand in front of what looks like a large stone archway with foreign markings around the object. It looked thousands of years old, features unusual marks that looked like drawings of dragons, and it was even carved of unusual letterings around almost each drawing.

"I took a reading of this thing and the meter showed this little warning signal, but I didn't really see anything suspicious." Oscar said as he backed away a little bit from the object.

Elwood walked up to the subject and took out a much larger device from his belt and began to switch it on. The device was known as the Giga Meter; it detects paranormal entities as much as the PKE Meter does, but targets on more of an entity's psychomagnatheric energy.

"Hmm… I'm getting stronger emanations through the Giga Meter;" He explained as he began to study the stone markings. "These lettered carvings are actually in Norse readings, but these look more like an earlier depiction of the Norse language, possibly even before Vikings."

"Do you think you can make it out?" Joseph asked.

"I'll have to make a documentation of these carvings first; Joseph, hand me your camera phone."

As Joseph handed Elwood his phone, Oscar then noticed something starting to rise from a small center hole of the archway. Unusual blue reminiscent emerge and started to form itself into a large, swirling translucent doorway; however, this wasn't an ordinary doorway at all, it was actually an inter-dimensional gateway. But how was it activated?

"Uhh… guys…" Oscar said with a frightened voice.

Elwood, the Zeddemore twins, Egon, and Winston finally noticed the archway opening into a doorway. Then they began to fire up their weapons, preparing themselves for any unwelcome guests; but as they readied themselves, the portal slowly vanished into thin air, as if it never happened in the first place. The Ghostbusters began to feel baffled.

"What the Hell-Where did it go?" Joseph asked.

Egon looked over the archway, took out his PKE meter, and read no sign of any energy levels.

"Strange, this archway was emitting large amounts of PKE, but now there's no trace of it." He said with a confused tone.

"Unless… maybe something's already come out of there, but we didn't see it." Jenny replied.

_**RRAAAAAAAARRRRGGHH!**_

Sure enough, it did.

The Ghostbusters looked around and finally noticed a very long animal-like spirit flying around the museum exhibit! It was somewhat serpentine, had large segmented branch-like horns on its head, and it looked almost half human by the way it was physically built. Its eyes glowed a fiery red and very void, had no legs but a very long spirit tail, and its snout was a little more flat and rounder.

It started to use its levitation powers to pick up nearby jars and began to throw them at the recruits, Egon, and Winston; luckily the 'busters dodged its attack and started to charge up their weapons.

"Okay kids, get him!" Winston cried.

Quickly, all the recruits fired their Neutrona Wands at the new ghost, weakening it as fast as they could. Suddenly, the ghost raised its arms and quickly flicked them around, summoning a forceful pushing power in order to push away the recruits. The trainees fell up against the right wall and knocked over a glass case filled with a replicated model of a small dragon; the case and dragon shattered to pieces as the recruits fell over by the ghost's power.

"Aagh! Holy shit dude, that thing's really powerful!" Joseph cried.

"We're gonna need at least one or two more people for assistance, as well as a little more weaponry!" Elwood explained.

Then, just as the recruits stood back up to their feet, the ghost then pushed them down once more and finally neared itself toward them for a final attack. Egon and Winston rushed over to help, but the ghost used its same power to push them away as well; then it started to open its mouth very wide as it began to breathe in, preparing to breath out something far worse than black slime or any other form of ectoplasmic residue.

Suddenly, the ghost began to feel something painful as an unexpected object flew across the air and shattered a big pink aura explosion right onto the spirit, itself! The ghost then started to feel a little dizzy and weak, until a particle stream appeared around the specter, lassoing all around it as well as it made the specter weaker.

From behind the ghost was none other than Rita; she skateboard around the exhibit, particle wand in hand, and is actually the one who had thrown a ghost bomb earlier at the entity the whole time. She could barely keep a hold of it as the ghost struggles to get away, but then the recruits finally came through and began to fire their weapons at the target.

Now the ghost was finally entangled by the particle streams; then Rita unhooked the Ghost Trap from her utility belt and finally rolled it across the floor, and it stopped right underneath the specter. Immediately, she stomped onto the pedal of the trap which caused the small trap doors to open; a bright cone light appeared underneath and began to actually suck in the ghost, itself. Finally, Rita stomped onto the pedal once more, and the trap finally finished the entrapment and its doors closed.

The capture was now complete.

"Excellent! Well done recruits, especially you Rita, nice performance there." Egon said as he congratulated the recruits.

"Yeah way to go Rita," Oscar replied. "Nice way to show up at the last minute."

"Well I had a little trouble getting here as fast as I could, but thanks." Rita said as she picked up the ghost trap and Ecto-5.

Then, Jenny joined in on the conversation with a slight worried look on her face as well as a thought occurred. "Wait a minute Rita, aren't you a little worried Ray might notice you're gone, even after you were told _not_ to come here?"

Rita replied with a slight worried tone. "… Well…"

Suddenly, an instant loud scream of a man's voice echoed through the museum.

"RITA!"

From that moment, Rita somehow knew exactly who that voice was. She replied with a soft, worried, but calming tone. "… Eventually, he'd figure it out sooner than I thought."

Jenny asked once more. "You set up that bogus decoy of yourself again, didn't you-?"

"Yes. Yes I did."

Sure enough, Ray Stantz came stomping up through the exhibit's entrance with a furious expression on his face, but felt a little more worried deep inside as he walked through. He noticed Rita standing over ten feet away from the archway, carrying the ghost trap still in her one hand and Ecto-5 in the other; and so he stomped closer to her while Rita, herself, noticed Ray's presence and just stood there waiting for what may come of her.

She greeted with a surprisingly calm voice. "Hey Ray-"

"Don't you _Hey Ray_ me young lady," Ray cried with an angry tone. "I told you _not_ to leave the firehouse today, but oh no, you just _had_ to leave a cheesy decoy and then walk out of the building like there was no tomorrow!"

"… So… you're gonna extend another month or so to my probation since I escaped again, right?" Rita asked as though feeling her punishment would include such.

"As your employer, _YES_ I would; but as your uncle, I insist you are to return to the firehouse _immediately_ before anything else happens!"

Then as the argument continued, Winston finally stepped up to try and put an end to the Stantzs misunderstanding. "Ray, this has to stop; in fact, this isn't like you at all. You've been acting overprotective of Rita ever since you signed her up to train for the Ghostbusters position, what's wrong with you?"

"In fact, if it wasn't for your niece's actions today," Egon added. "The other recruits would've been victims of a Class _V_ Manifesting Outlander…"

"In which _I _promptly trapped with awesome assistance." Rita finished as she held up the full ghost trap. "And _you_ said there was gonna be some trouble with a Class VII Metaspecter; well look at what I got now Ray, what do you say to _that_?"

But for some reason, Ray's eyes widened with fear as they were now transfixed by something else; possibly from behind Rita, as a matter of fact.

The unusual stone archway began to glow a light blue aura, and the unusual ectoplasmic mist from before emerge once again. This time it formed into a much larger open doorway and it began to create some wind effects as it swirled in a counterclockwise position. The archway was, indeed, an open portal into a possible new world, or a more dimensional matter that is.

As Ray witnessed, he now felt something was preparing to come out at any second.

He spoke with a nervous tone. "That's _not _the metaspecter…"

"Of course it-say what?" Rita replied, now confused.

Ray placed a hand onto Rita's head and gently turned it for her to see what's going on. Sure enough, Rita saw the open portal actually increase slowly in size, until something actually started to slowly slither out. At first, it looked like a tip of a creature's nostrils until sooner an entire head actually came out along with an elongated neck, perhaps around five feet long until one of its shoulders barely peeked out from the portal.

It was almost the size of a Juvenile Sloar, and that's just the head and neck; its head was an uderbite jaw structure, multiple eyes (4 on each side as a matter of fact), ears were very small, its head horns were segmented and looked broken, side fins were of mostly horns as well, and the creature, itself, looked more like a decaying lich this whole time as it was most definitely a somewhat Ectoplasmic Outsider.

"_That's_ the Class VII Extra-dimensional Metaspecter!" Ray cried with a nervous tone.

"… Oh poop…" Rita whispered, now realizing she should've listened to Ray.

The worst part was that the creature was definitely a more dragon-like figure than any of the specimens in the museum exhibit. Jenny screamed a little in fear, Joseph clung onto his sister, Elwood and Oscar gasped in fear, Egon felt a chilling memory coming back to him, Winston panicked slightly by the sheer sight of the creature, and the Stantzs even grab hold of each other for protection (well mostly Ray grabbed Rita to protect her). The creature notices the Ghostbusters' presence, but for some reason concentrated more on Rita as though she were its primary target; then it began to roar with rage, and at the same time the bone models of different dragons began to spring to life and started flying around the exhibit like a swarm of bees.

The recruits prepared to fire at the possessed models, but Egon then insisted they must concentrate more on the massive creature.

"Okay one two three-toast him!" Ray cried to the recruits.

All five of the recruits then fired their particle wands at the massive creature, causing it to react in pain by the particle streams. Soon Egon, Winston, and Ray joined in as they fired their arm packs as well, weakening the creature. But then, the monster furiously began to breath fire all around like a real dragon would, causing most of the place to catch fire; then, the Ghostbusters finally dodged a few of the flames, causing them to stop firing their particle wands for the moment.

Eventually, after the destruction, the large dragon-like fiend slowly slithers back through the portal, never to be seen again.

All the Ghostbusters recovered after noticing the monster's disappearance and finally realized they've finally got rid of the metaspecter for good; at least, that's what the recruits thought.

"Wait, this isn't over," Egon said. "That portal is still opened. We have to shut it down for good before anything else comes out."

"How do we do that?" Joseph asked. "Do we have to cross the streams for this one?"

"Not necessarily."

"Aww… I wanted to see it." Jenny whispered to herself.

"Since the portal is actually a somewhat transdimensional conduit, it would actually be wise to take down the archway pillars that seem to emit amounts of energy through the Class VII Metaspecter."

Before the 'busters could even take the chance, the portal itself slowly began to turn itself into a somewhat electromagnetic field, only it mostly had the effects of a wind-sucking tornado. The archway was actually closing itself, but the Ghostbusters decided once and for all to destroy the object for good. So, they fired their weapons at the archway pillars, except for Rita because Ray then set her behind him for protection.

"Get behind me Rita," He said. "You've had enough fun for one day."

"What? Oh come on Ray, I didn't even do much!" Rita objected as she felt Ray was overprotective again.

"Rita just hear me out on this; I almost lost you today and I don't ever want to! You're not ready to handle situations like this; you think you can do these things, but you just _can't_ Rita!"

With hatred, Rita spoke once more as she turned her head away. "… I _hate _you!"

With those three words being said, Ray stood frozen in shock by what Rita just said. The thing is it was the very first time Ray has heard that dreaded sentence… from his very own _niece_!

Rita sulked away, never wanting to even look at Ray again, but Ray tries to explain with a now more saddening tone in his voice. "… Rita…"

But Joseph interrupted. "Hey, can we put the conversation away for another time; we could use a little help here!"

So Ray joined in, firing his arm pack, but at the same time his own heart began to break.

Suddenly, things became worse as the Ghostbusters started to hear loud roars coming from the portal, sounding almost as if they were actual roars of dragons. With a slight hint of curiosity however, Rita slowly peeked over Ray's shoulder as she heard the unusual sounds. Something inside of Rita somehow told her there was something so amazing and so incredible going on through that portal, that it must have some strange involvement with the museum exhibit. It's too bad, she must've thought, she'll miss out on whatever's through the portal.

Then, as the portal's closing neared its end, its wind powers grew stronger and started to suck in more than just wind conditions; some of the exhibit's models and bone fragments enter through, until immediately several floating skulls in shapes of dragon heads slither out of the portal and began to start grabbing at least one or two of the recruits; Jenny and Elwood were the first two victims as they were maliciously dragged across the floor by the heads once they started to grab hold. Winston and Ray grab hold of Jenny and fire an arm pack to destroy the swarmers, freeing Jenny from their grasp. Around the same time Joseph grabs Elwood while Egon fires his arm pack to destroy the combustible spirits.

As Elwood and Jenny were finally freed, more of those flying skulls emerge from the portal, but were now charging right toward Ray! Witnessing the horrible Class-I Osteo-focused Swarmers, Rita did the unthinkable. She jumped right in front of Ray, took out her Neutrona Wand, and before she even fired, the skulls quickly and finally grab hold of her instead and began to drag her across the floor toward the portal.

"RITA!" Ray cried in fear as he finally jumped over and grabbed Rita by the arms.

The rest of the recruits, Egon, and Winston joined in as they grab hold onto Rita. But then, the portal's effects grew stronger, it sucked in more of most of the exhibit, and Rita, and the roars from inside grew louder. Ray held tighter onto Rita's arms as he tries to pull her away, but she begins to slowly slip out of his grasp instead as more of those flying dragon skulls pulled her closer toward the portal.

"Don't let me go!" Rita cried, frightened.

"I won't let go, I swear it!" Ray replied. "Hold on Rita!"

Then, Egon noticed one of the pillars beginning to break slowly.

"Quick, destroy that pillar! If we can destroy at least one of the pillars the portal may finally close for good!" He said.

One of the recruits, Oscar, reached over to grab his Neutrona Wand, but before he fired Rita slowly but finally slipped away from Ray's grasp and was now finally sucked into the portal, itself!

"NO!" Ray cried in fear as he quickly began to go rush into the portal.

However, it was too late.

"Ray, get back!" Elwood cried.

Until then, the portal surgically burst into a large pulse of energy, pushing Ray and the others to the ground. Momentarily, Ray stood back up to his feet and ran toward the portal while it was still slightly opened; but as he arrived within inches, the doorway finally disappeared into thin air. Rita was now trapped inside an unknown universe.

"RITTAAAAA!" Ray cried in extraordinary fear.

With the portal gone, the exhibit now formed itself into almost its normal form, like it was never demolished in the first place. The flames from the massive creature from before deteriorated into thin air, leaving most of the structure looking as if it was never caught on fire but however left some burn marks around most areas. All of the dragon models "died out" from possession but shattered to pieces once they fell to the ground, some of the mock-up skulls, figurines, and even a few of the paintings were destroyed some by particle beams, ectoplasmic residue, and by even when they were in "lively" possession.

Ray then tries to reactivate the archway by at first just touching the subject, but failed; then he tries to kick it, punch it, or just even try knocking it down, but nothing happened. He banged onto the object furiously as well as he started to cry in heartbreak.

"No… no… no, NO, NO, NO, NOOOOO!"

Then he dropped to his knees as he slowly scratched the pillar with his gloved hands. Now in anguished fear, he has truly lost Rita; and at the same time he felt it was his own entire fault. Then, without letting his colleagues notice, he began to softly cry.

As the other Ghostbusters recover a bit by the actions, Egon quickly scans over the platform with his PKE meter, seeing if there was any more activity. Jenny notices Ray kneeling onto the center of the object so she casually walked up to him, trying to see if she would help him out after what just happened. The rest of the 'busters took a quick overview of the event, as well as they try to think of an idea to bring Rita back to the living plane.

Momentarily, Egon discovered something unusual about the now demolished archway. "Everyone, this looks extraordinarily bad."

"What could be worse than what just happened?!" Winston cried who also felt disturbed by the loss of Rita. "We had just lost a recruit into some paranormal doorway leading to God only knows where, and now you're saying this looks bad?!"

"That's just it; see the portal has been opened for too long. Some_thing _must've gotten out of there around the exact same time when Rita was taken inside. Now it's possible it may be wandering around this plane of existence."

Soon afterward, Ray slowly began to stop his crying by Egon's explanation. At that moment he started to feel his heart and soul change with unusual hope slowly rising through as he listened to Egon continue.

"If we could somehow find whatever's escaped the portal, then it may be possible to use it as a key resource into finding a new doorway, which could lead us into the location of where Rita has been taken into."

"Then let's start finding the damn thing." Winston replied.

Until, moments later a strange wail occurred.

_**RRRAAAAAAOOOOOUUURRGHHH!**_

It sounded as though it were another dragon, only this sound more as though it were frightened. It was coming from the other side of the exhibit, over possibly thirty feet away from the archway.

"Looks like it seemed to have found us instead." Elwood said.

With Egon's idea now swarming into his head, Ray instantaneously stood to his feet and began to prepare his arm pack. Then he took a head start from his colleagues to find whatever it was that made the unusual roar.

"Ray, wait!" Egon cried. "Come on, we got to follow him!"

Then, the recruits, Egon, and Winston all followed Ray, hoping as well to find whatever's escaped the portal.

A few minutes passed, Ray already scanned by a couple rooms very quickly but alas found no trace of the new escapee; until then, he heard a loud banging coming from his right side as well as he heard the frightening wail once more. So Ray rushed toward the sounds until he finally stopped as he entered a new section of the dragon exhibit; this one was mostly filled with large-scale replicas of dragon statues, each one with descriptive skull models indicating of what a certain species of a dragon may look like. Many of them, however, looked more ferocious than even the Class-VII metaspecter from before.

Ray continued walking down the hall for a couple more minutes until he suddenly began to feel a little chill, feeling there's an actual presence somewhere in the room; but this chill however, strangely felt good. He looked around for a little bit until he finally notice a pair of cat-like green eyes in slit form staring straight at him. Ray studied the eyes and then felt the same good vibe through him once more; he didn't move to touch them or anything, but something about those eyes strangely began to make Ray feel warm from deep within. It's as if he knew exactly about those eyes.

After a couple more minutes of silence later, a voice was heard from behind Ray.

"Ray, there you are!"

At the same time, the unthinkable happened.

_**RRAAAAAARRRGHH!**_

As if in fear, the green eyes suddenly moved, revealing a large open mouth as it let out an awful roar; it instantly jumped out of the shadows, over Ray's head to reveal a very large black creature with large wings!

Ray stumbled back from the instant appearance of this new creature, around the same time. The creature snarled and hissed as it landed five feet in front of Ray, as if it were only trying to keep away and only scare him off . But Ray just stood in position as he studied the creature, until momentarily the other 'busters quickly arrived upon the scene. That's when they finally witnessed the new black creature.

"Whoa! Holy- what is that?!" Oscar cried.

The creature sneered at the Ghostbusters. It was a definite form of a dragon but unusually had more different features than the models of the museum exhibit; it had a unique feline-like feature, giving a slender appearance; there weren't any horns or other monstrous features but small spinal frills, it has small appendages growing from the back of its head, large ears, strong and bulky arms and legs, green eyes, large fins on the tip of its tail, and its overbite was sort of flat and slender. This creature looked almost as if it were from a certain movie; one thing's for sure however, this creature looked more frightened than furious. But the thing is, this creature didn't look like a ghostly figure, but rather a more regular animal-like presentation.

Then Egon took a step up and scanned the creature for any psychokinetic energy with his PKE meter. He spoke with a calm tone. "These readings are somewhat average, but it's definitely of a supernatural being."

"Do you think this could be the one creature that escaped from the portal?" Oscar asked.

"Possibly."

"Well, you think maybe we could take it back to headquarters with us?" Elwood asked.

Egon took a moment to think, and he finally replied. "We may as well have to, otherwise the police, the mayor, or some governmental facility might do something horrible to this thing."

Jenny studied the creature as well; and from the look on its face, it wasn't happy but it felt more than just snarling anger.

"I think Dr. Spengler's right," She said. "I mean look at it. It looks more frightened than angry. We gotta do something."

So Egon placed away his PKE meter and slowly began to walk up toward the creature. The creature however, squint its eyes more, pulled its lips back as it bared its teeth, and then it growled viciously right at Egon! Egon backed away quickly, but then felt a little confused.

"Wait, I didn't even do anything." He said.

But then, Ray took another look at the creature; he then felt something unusual deep inside himself. A warm, familiar feeling in which he would feel whenever he was in Rita's presence; and that's when he began to think of an idea.

"Wait a minute Egon, let me give it a try." He spoke.

So Ray slowly walked up to the black creature; he crept within at least two feet close to the beast and finally stopped. He began to reach out for the creature with his armed hand, but the animal snarled, mostly at the arm pack. Ray realized he was armed with the weapon, so he unstrapped the arm pack, gently set it down to the floor beside him, and then he gently pushed it to the far side of the room with his foot.

This being done, the creature perked up its ears and slightly it even raised one of its eyebrow; but somehow it still wouldn't trust the Ghostbusters. Then Elwood developed an idea. "I think we should do the same thing guys; unhook your weapons, that way we'll let it know we mean no harm."

So then all the Ghostbusters started to unhook, unstrap, and took off their equipment. Then they all gently pushed their weapons aside, which then made the dark creature now looking confused. Its eye went to a normal pair of round pupil green, and its ears perked a bit higher, looking more confused than before.

Now that the Ghostbusters were unarmed, the creature would maybe now trust them; but unfortunately, it didn't even begin to move. Until, Ray began to kneel down onto one knee and then extend out one arm toward the creature, but the animal softly growled.

"No, no, it's okay," Ray whispered possibly to the creature. "It's alright we're not gonna hurt you. Come on, it's okay."

The creature stopped its growl for a moment and just stared at Ray with a somewhat slightly confused look on its face. It began to smell his scent, three feet from where Ray knelt, and then it softly snort as though it smelled a similar scent once before. So then, very slowly, it started to walk toward Ray.

The recruits became amazed by the creature's understanding as it slowly neared close to Ray, until it became frightened once more as though it were taking second thoughts. Ray however, tries to calm it down as he spoke once more. "It's alright, there's nothing to be scared of. It's okay, come here."

The creature calmed itself and started to walk closer to Ray.

With that, Ray extended out his arm further as the creature finally neared within inches toward Ray's hand. It stared at his hand, looked up at Ray for a moment, and then stared at his hand once more. Then, as the creature neared its stubby little nose toward the palm of Ray's hand, something unexpected happened…

_**BLAM! **_The main doors of the museum slammed opened!

"There they are!" A man's voice cried out.

By the sudden noises, the dragon's eyes went back into a slit persona, spread out its massive wings as it began to stand up onto its hind legs, and it finally let out a massive, awful roar right in front of the Ghostbusters! Then, it finally leaped over the 'busters and suddenly flew right toward the exit.

"NOOO!" Ray cried in fear.

But just as the strange man prepared to say something in command as there were policemen in presence, the creature immediately swooped over the men's heads and finally exit the museum altogether in a quick flash. Outside, crowds of people screamed in fear as they saw the appearance of an actual dragon flying over the city blocks.

"Don't just stand there, go after it!" The man cried.

This man, however, was none other than Walter Peck. For some reason, he has heard about the Ghostbusters doing an investigation at the museum and must've figured he would finally get the chance to rid the city of the famed paranormal investigators.

"You?! What're _you_ doing here?!" Winston cried.

"The same thing as you." Peck replied with a devious grin.

"What?" Egon asked as well.

"Since I figured you bozos had been in the business for too long, I decided to do a little hunting for myself; and to prove once and for all you clowns are nothing but con artists with light shows."

"And what business is that?"

"Ah ah ahh… I'm not going to tell you that, at least not just yet. So, if I were you I'd better go and get a head start if you want to go capture this thing."

"We _were_ until _you_ showed up."

"Well then, I guess the chase is on. Good luck."

Then Peck finally walked away.

"Augh, I _hate _that guy!" Oscar said in anger.

"We were _so __close_!" Jenny cried as well. "We had that thing in the palm of our hands, but oh no _Peck_ just _had_ to show up and ruin it all!"

"Tell me about it," Elwood replied. "That creature was our only other chance of getting Rita back!"

"Well, if we're now in competition with Peck," Winston finished. "We'd better start searching for that thing right now before Peck gets a hold of it; God only knows what he might do to that animal."

So all the Ghostbusters quickly grabbed their equipment, strapped them on, and finally exit the museum.


	2. Chapter 2

_Part Two: Across the Other Side_

_I_t was a whole new plane of existence, a rather somewhat inhuman dimension; the environment was covered with dead trees, some animal-like skeletons were half buried in the ground as well as some trees grew through them, the air felt really cold, the skies were gray and dark, and it was even covered with chilling fog. It was a different world, and Rita was trapped in it.

Rita lay onto the ground, knocked out in an unconscious statement; some of the Class I Osteo-Focused Swarmers from before were just circling around the knocked out recruit, but didn't bother to attack or anything. Then, just a few minutes later, Rita finally woke up from her unconsciousness; she felt a little dizzy at first, but she ignored the condition as she sat up.

"Ooh… M-My head…" She spoke, feeling a bit woozy.

As Rita finally stood up to her feet, she finally noticed the surroundings; she realized she wasn't at the museum anymore.

"Whoa. W-What is this place?" She wondered, feeling a bit nervous at first.

Then, from behind Rita, a large boulder began to slowly move upward, uncovering a large skeletal-like ghostly figure in the presence. The thing is, however, it wasn't a large boulder at all rather a pair of outstretched, decaying wings! The skeletal figure was actually another large dragon lich; only this one was very smaller than the metaspecter but was the size of an elephant and a half, compared to Rita's height. Its head was more skull-like, eye sockets were glowing a fiery blue, head horns were forward facing structure, and its whole body still had flesh but was a very bony figure and was colored a ghastly dark gray and white. Not only was this dragon a decaying corpse, but more ghostly than even the large metaspecter from before.

Frightened by the sight of the creature, Rita finally started to run away just as soon as the creature started to lunge for her. She quickly ran across 20 to 30 feet away until she came up to a large tree with skulls and skeletal hands growing through. She hid behind, hoping the spirited figure wouldn't find her; but then the tree started to burst into flames from mostly the front side. Rita covered herself for protection with her arms but then she quickly took a peek from behind the tree and saw the creature nearing into position toward Rita.

As the monster came close, it quickly lunged right toward Rita but with quick reflexes, Rita ran for her life.

Now the chase was on; a couple minutes after Rita took off, the ghostly dragon continued to try and grab Rita, but with luck Rita quickly dodged each of the dragon's attack. The, Rita began to unzip her skateboard satchel in order to take out Ecto-5 for a faster getaway; unfortunately the zipper of the bag wouldn't budge open, it was now stuck.

"Oh come on, not now!" Rita cried with a frightened tone.

Suddenly, a large blaze of fire whizzed right past Rita's head, hitting a large tree. Rita had been lucky she wasn't hit, but noticed the undead dragon was still chasing her; so she just continued on running.

The creature neared itself closer to Rita for another attack, but just as it prepared to breathe another stream of fire something blasted onto _it_ instead. The creature bellowed in pain by a somewhat surge of a fireball that somehow possesses the same basic effect of the Ghostbusters' positively charged particle streams of the Neutrona Wands. After the ghost was shot, a flash of solid black flew over the creature and somehow headed right toward Rita.

Rita didn't notice the ghostly creature had been attacked, she just kept on running at a much fast pace like a track star athlete, trying to keep herself away from the hideous decaying creature. Rita then quickly stepped and jumped over a decaying tree, but just one second before she hit the ground to continue running, something finally grabbed her by the arm and is now being taken up into the air!

"Ahh! Oh my God! What is- (Gasp) AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Rita cried in horror as she looked up to see what grabbed her.

Sure enough, it was another black dragon. This one had the same basic features as the one that escaped the museum's portal, but this one seemed to have some slight age to it, one of its eyes seemed to have a darker shade of green than the other, and it looked a little pudgier than the escapee.

The new dragon flew higher and farther away from the ghost dragon, carrying Rita in its arms tightly. It then turned to see the dragon lich, and just simply hovered in the air; it snarled and growled viciously, not at Rita but mostly yet strangely at the ghostly creature. The spirit creature roared at the black dragon, but then the black creature itself, began to roar in the air as though it was calling for something. Rita then heard new roars, similar to the black dragon's, and finally notices six more black dragons flying individually; then they all surround the ghostly figure and began to fire particle stream based fireballs, which effectively injured the ghost.

Rita watched in amazement how these black dragons, each one the size of a Clydesdale including the one holding Rita, perform these astonishing attacks toward the ghost dragon, almost as if _they_ were Ghostbusters as well. One of them; with brown eyes, slightly gray around its spinal back frills, and seemed to be the most intelligent of the group roared mostly to four younger black dragons as they begin to breath out their own version of the particle streams right at the dragon lich.

The ghostly figure became weaker and weaker by the black dragons' fire blasts as it tries to escape the creatures' attacks; but then, after taking several more hits, it started to deteriorate. The dark dragons' fire blasts seemed to have an effect that which could be able to combust an entity after several shots. Suddenly, after a final shot from the group of four younger black dragons, the dragon lich finally depolarize into nothing, like it was never there to begin with. All the six black dragons roared as a somewhat sign of victory and then began to fly over toward Rita and the large pudgy dragon that was still holding her in its massive arms.

But then, as the pudgy dragon began to take off in mid-air, Rita started to struggle from its grip, trying to escape.

"Ugh! Let go of me; put me down!" She cried mostly in fear. "Put me… DOWN!"

At the same time Rita accidentally elbowed the dark dragon by its lower jaw, which suddenly made it let go of Rita right in the air! Rita fell from the dragon's grasp, over at least 300 feet up in the air; she screamed in panicking fear. Then, after recovering from Rita's punch, the pudgy dragon swooped over and dived down toward Rita, reaching out its large paws as it dived closer to Rita. As it reached three seconds before hitting the ground, the dragon immediately grabs one of Rita's legs and instantaneously pulls up back toward the sky.

Moments later, the dragon carried Rita back up in the air by her leg, and finally flew toward the six other dark dragons in which it called upon earlier. All _seven _of these unusual creatures flew across the night sky as they leave the bone-filled environment of death and entered a much more deserted area, which was none other than the desert, itself.

Rita screamed in horror, mostly because she now feels very frightened by the new dimension, the events that just occurred, and she was even feeling terrified of what these black dragons may do to her now that she is in one of their grasps.

"AAAHH! AH, AH, AAAAAAAHHH! HELP; SOMEBODY HELP ME" She screamed in terrible fear. "EGON, JENNY, OSCAR, UNCLE RAY, ANYBODY; GET ME OUT OF HHEEEEEERRRRREEEE!"

With that, the black dragons and Rita just flew farther away, disappearing into the dawning foggy sky.

Across the other side, back in the living human world, the Ghostbusters were back at headquarters mainly to find any reports of the escaped dragon from the museum; soon after the creature escaped it just instantaneously vanished into the city without a trace. The worst part is that Walter Peck is now involved with a new, yet unnamed, organization of his own that deals with similar situations as this, but only intends to expose them as fakes. Luckily, Peck hasn't found the creature since it escaped.

Now the Ghostbusters wait anxiously as they gathered around the recreational room of the second floor, listening to a police scanner. For the past hour so far, nothing had come up about the dragon sighting.

"Anything reported yet?" Egon asked as he came upstairs from the first floor.

"We're only picking up robberies and car chases at this time Egon," Elwood explained. "It's gonna take a little while longer than I thought."

"Well keep listening for any more information; I'm sure they'll be expecting a dragon sighting soon enough."

But so far, nothing like that had been heard.

While the 'busters still scan the police scanner for any hints of the whereabouts of the dragon, Jenny looked up and noticed Ray sitting on one of the beds in the bunk room. She wondered what was wrong, but then realized Ray was still feeling guilty of Rita's disappearance; so Jenny casually walked over to the bunk room and went inside.

Ray was sitting on Rita's bunk, slouched over in sadness, and was apparently holding something in his hands; it was actually a small plush wolf doll, the same one in which Ray, himself, had given to Rita when she was a child and she has kept it close ever since. Ray stared at the doll, remembering the good times he spent with Rita as he tries to raise her as his own; his eyes began to fill with tears and now felt he'll lose his only loving niece forever, trapped inside another world filled with horrors she may not ever handle on her own.

"I'm so sorry." A voice whispered from beside Ray.

Ray looked up and saw Jenny with a worried expression, standing next to him. Ray just stared at her for a moment, until he wiped off a teardrop from his cheek and then set his eyes back onto the doll, not replying a single word. But Jenny then sat beside Ray and started to try comforting him as she spoke once more.

"Ray, I'm truly sorry for what happened-"

"No, it wasn't your fault," Ray spoke at last. "… It was all _mine_; I should've taken her home when I had the chance, I was so willing to keep her safe with me, but now I'm losing her… and it's all _my_ fault."

"Ray don't talk like that, of course it wasn't your fault."

"You don't understand, I promised her parents I would look after her; Rita's the only family I have now, I can't afford to lose her, I'll never forgive myself if I don't bring her back here. I didn't mean to be so overprotective of her; she's still a little girl to me, and she still has so much to learn."

"… She feels so much more like a daughter to you, isn't she?"

Ray stared at Jenny by her reply, but deeply believed it to be true.

"… As much as I feel like a real father to her…" He replied in agreement.

Jenny smirks as she explained. "It's okay to be protective of someone you love Ray, and you're doing a good job for it. I'm sure Rita's lucky to have you for an uncle, just as I'm lucky to have Winston Zeddemore as my father. You know, between you and me, if it was either myself or Joseph sucked into that portal instead of Rita, I believe daddy would do the same thing as you are right now."

Silence broke out once more for a moment.

"(Sigh) if there's one thing I've taught Rita," Ray spoke. "Is how there's nothing to be afraid of in this world. As I tried to rescue her from being sucked into that portal, I looked closely at Rita and realized… _I _was the one who's more frightened than Rita is; I'm more scared of what might be on the other side of that portal if I'm not there for her."

"I bet she's really scared now;" Jenny replied. "We'll bring her back, don't worry, then you and Rita could settle things down between the two of you."

Then Jenny stood to her feet and finally walked away from Ray, leaving the bunk room.

Ray continued to sit there, gazing upon Rita's plush wolf doll, and even shed a couple tears. He then finally set the doll onto the bed but then accidentally kicked something with the heel of his foot as he prepared to stand up. He looked down onto the floor and noticed a large notebook peeking from underneath the bed; so he picked it up and studied the book for a moment.

The front cover was just a plain black cover with small used scratches around most of it, so Ray opened it and saw the first title atop the first page of the large notebook. _"Dragon Studies"_ was the entitlement, and surprisingly it was in Rita's handwriting; and underneath the title was a crudely drawn sketch of a simple Western European Dragon depiction, looking ferocious as ever.

At first, Ray didn't know what this notebook was all about, but had a feeling it definitely belonged to Rita. So he began to skim through the pages, seeing more sketches of different designs of different dragons of every culture in the world. Many of these pages even showed descriptive definitions that represent the dragon species; things like the sizes of these creatures, what powers they possess, their behaviors, weaknesses, flight speeds, almost everything.

Then as Ray turned the next page, he noticed a small advertisement of the Museum of Natural History taped to the page. It was a picture of a dragon's head on the front while the title underneath it said _**Dragons: Beyond the Imagination**_; it was actually an ad talking about the new exhibit held at the museum, later found out to be manifested and controlled by an inter-dimensional doorway. However, there was something written underneath the small piece of paper.

"_Someday…"_ is what it said.

After reading through the first seventy pages of the notebook, Ray came to realize this notebook was actually an interest, Rita's very own interest. She was actually more enthusiastic about dragons, rather than just ghosts and apparitions; as Ray studied the taped advertisement once more, he softly spoke.

"Aww Rita, why didn't you just tell me?"

Then Ray looked over the pages once more; he skimmed through toward a page describing on what most species of dragons prefer to eat. He then read what Rita had written down.

"_While in most popular cultures, dragons were described as vicious and nasty man-eaters; in most recent studies however, some species prefer to be either carnivorous, herbivorous, or even a little of both. Some like to eat fruits, others like vegetables, most prefer meat, and some of them like most sea dwellers for instance often love the taste of seafood instead…"_

Then Ray developed an idea.

He quickly rushed over to a nearby fire pole, taking Rita's notebook with him, and finally slid down to enter the ground floor.

"… _(Zzztt!)_… Reports of an unidentified black monster have been spotted around Eastern Central Park…"

"Egon, we got it!" Elwood cried as he heard the police report a sighting through the police scanner.

"Awesome! Now let's go get that thing before Peck does!" Oscar replied with an excited tone.

"Yeah, about that…" Janine spoke as she just came from downstairs.

All the recruits, Egon, and Winston noticed Janine's presence, and they all now felt confused by her response.

"… Um… I just saw Dr. Stantz rushing over to Ecto-1, and he's already… taken a head start without you guys." She replied once more, also feeling confused.

Then, all the Ghostbusters cried at once with confusion. "What?!"

Upon arrival in Eastern Central Park, Ray drove down further and deeper into a darker portion of the park as he heard from the police scanner of Ecto-1 of a strange animal being spotted around the general area in which Ray is now parking at. With no one else in sight, Ray finally parked Ecto-1 and turned off her engines; he then picked up a fourteen-inch freshly caught fish in which he must've picked up from a nearby fish market, and then he board out of the vehicle to start looking around for the dragon. He took out his PKE meter from his utility belt and began to scan around the area, hoping to find any signal of the dragon's presence.

The meter level showed up nothing after the first few minutes, but Ray continued on, looking for the creature with the meter in one hand and the large fish held in the other. Everything was dead quiet after the next few minutes until…

_**SNAP!**_

A nearby sound of a tree branch breaking suddenly came from behind Ray!

Ray turned and held up the meter in place, but the contraption showed nothing in existence. So he looked around a little more, but alas found nothing in sight. Until, a small portion of the PKE rose, pointing at a large tree just ten feet from where Ecto-1 was parked, but just as Ray started to rush toward the tree, the meter decreased into nothing once again. So he heard some rustling sounds once more but there was nothing to be seen or picked up from the meter; the entire park became very quiet once again. Ray thought for sure he'd finally get the chance to see the creature again, but absolutely nothing was found once more.

Then as Ray placed the PKE meter back onto his utility belt, he began to hear some soft purring sounds coming from right behind him; he slowly turned his head and then he finally sees the same pair of green reptilian eyes from the museum, and this time they were within two feet toward him. It was none other than the black dragon from the museum!

It stood a couple feet away from Ray as it started to smell the fish Ray still carried in his hand. It tilted its head in confusion as it stared aimlessly at Ray as though wondering what Ray is doing with a large raw fish in the first place. Ray stared in awestruck at the creature as well, and he even began to feel the unusual warm and comforting feeling deep within him again. So he gently extends out the large fish toward the dragon, trying to make it come and take the bait.

So, the black dragon began to creep slowly toward Ray; it neared within inches and then studied the fish for a moment. It looked up at Ray but then it pulled back in fear, making a frightful growl.

"Whoa it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you." Ray said, trying to calm the creature down. "It's alright; you're safe now. Go on, take the fish."

The creature calmed down by Ray's soft words; then it smelled the fish once more.

It opened its mouth slightly, looked up at Ray once more, and in a quick blink of an eye it finally snatched the fish right out of Ray's hands!

"Jeez!" Ray cried by the creature's snap.

The dragon chewed and swallowed the fish whole after one swipe from Ray's hands; it then licked its chops after that tasty meal but it then started to near itself closer to Ray. Ray backed himself up very quickly toward the side of Ecto-1, trying to keep his distance, until the dragon inched closer and it even began to smell Ray's scent, feeling as though he smelled very familiar to it. The creature snorted a little but tilts its head sideways in confusion, as well as it even felt the presence of Ray himself seemed to have given a warm feeling deep inside.

Both Ray and the dragon stared at each other for a long moment, both feeling very confused as well as they somehow felt strange yet comfortable feelings between the two. Then Ray finally but slowly reached out his hand toward the creature, but the dragon growled at first as it took a couple steps back away from Ray. Ray laid his hand down, until the creature stopped its growling and stared at Ray once more, not moving a muscle. Ray then closed his eyes, slowly held up his hand once more, and then he sat there motionless, waiting for something to happen.

The dragon stared at Ray's hand, not sure what to even do, until after a very long moment of silence it finally neared its nose… right onto Ray's hand.

As if he were touched by an angel, Ray opened his eyes to see the dragon softly purring as it now began to cuddle up against Ray's body. Some_thing_ about this animal started to make Ray feel deeply warm, fuzzy, and comfortably well as the dragon snuggled closely onto his body, as if it were a familiar presence?

He began to pet the creature in comfort as he came to realize this dragon needs help, more than just a key resource into finding a new doorway to rescue Rita; in fact to Ray, this dragon could possibly be an inter-dimensional counterpart of the living plane… perhaps a possible representation… of Rita, herself?

Whatever the possibilities, all Ray needed to do now is to help take this dragon back to headquarters, and find a way to take it home to where it belongs.

"… I promise I'll take care of you…" He whispered possibly to the dragon.

The dragon softly purred in comfort.

Suddenly, sirens were heard across the other side of the park; policemen surrounded most of the park entrance and began to scramble around the area. They too received reports of the dragon sighting, until a large van appeared moments later and parked behind one of the cop cars. Its side doors opened and out came Walter Peck, looking mischievous as ever.

Ray heard the sirens and then began to act fast; the dragon heard the noises as well but started to back away in fear until Ray calmed it down with a soft voice and kept his hand onto its head. "No it's okay, those guys aren't with me; I _swear_ it."

The dragon softly purred.

"Come on, I'm getting you out of here." Ray said once more.

So Ray rushed over toward the back side of Ecto-1 and opened the back door; the black dragon followed behind to see what Ray was doing until it heard voices coming at least within a hundred or so feet from behind. Ray looked over at the creature and studied its expressions; the dragon snarled at the mysterious voices until Ray realized the police were coming.

"Get inside, hurry!" Ray said as he grabbed the dragon softly by its head. "Come on!"

The dragon responded as it started to climb into the small capacity of Ecto-1. Despite the tight space on the size of the creature, it was able to fit through until its head loomed right over the front seats of the vehicle. Ray was able to get the dragon's body inside, but had a little trouble getting its tail inside as well. So he picked up the creature's tail and tries to stuff it into the compartment without even trying to harm the animal, itself. Over a couple minutes later, Ray finally got the entire dragon inside Ecto-1; he closed the back door with a tight squeeze and then finally boards in through the driver's side.

Ray started up the car's engine, which then made the dragon purr in fear, but Ray calmed it down as he set the car into gear.

"It's okay; we're getting out of here right now." Ray said, calming the dragon. "Just try to relax and keep your head down."

Then Ray stomped onto the gas pedal and the car took off at the starting speed of twenty-five mph. Ray quickly made a sharp U-turn around the park and quickly accelerated toward the park exit, which was still blocked by policemen.

Peck and a few of the cops entered the park but then noticed Ecto-1 coming right toward their location! Ecto-1 accelerated at a faster speed; then as she neared within a couple feet close toward Peck, all the cops _and _Peck quickly jumped out of the way as Ecto-1 drove right by in a flash. Peck watched as Ecto-1 made a quick jump over through the park exit as she drove by; her siren echoed in the air, warning the crowds of policemen to get out of the way, all this happening in one quick second.

Ecto-1 landed onto the empty pavement of the road and quickly turned right, and then left, driving down through South Canal. Ray and the black dragon finally escaped.

As he witnessed the escaping event, Peck realized that he was once again beaten by the Ghostbusters. "Damn you _Ghostbusters_!"

On their way back to headquarters, Ray sighed in relief as he felt deeply good on how the plan worked; and now he felt much more relieved in having the black dragon by his side. The dragon growled softly with a joyous expression, and then it unexpectedly licked Ray's face like it was a happy dog.

"Aw G- come on, not while I'm driving!" Ray said as he wiped his face with the sleeve of his uniform.

But the dragon just purred with a gleeful expression.

Ray looked at the creature in the eyes, and started to feel the same warm, fuzzy, and comfortable feeling deep inside once again. He smiled as he pet the dragon once more, speaking softly to it. "Well, you're safe now; and I swear, I'll never let you out of my sight."

The dragon purred once more. Then it snuggled its head up against Ray's shoulder and began to close its eyes to sleep a little while Ray continued to drive Ecto-1. Ray felt a little confused as to why he feels so comfortable with this dragon, feeling this creature somehow acts so familiar to him.

He asked to himself with a soft voice. "… Why do I have this weird and familiar feeling… _you_ are acting like someone I know?"

Back across the unknown dimensional plane, the seven black dragons continued to fly through the morning sky, a couple hours after escaping the ghastly events around the strange, unpleasant, bone-filled environment. One of the dragons, the pudgy green-eyed one, still carried Rita in both of its large arms tightly as it flew across the sky. Rita, speaking of which, had her face hidden deep within her arms and the dragon's chest as she was carried in the air; she felt more frightened than ever, too worried to even wonder what these dragons may do to her soon. Momentarily, she began to uncover her head for a moment to see what's going on. She looked up at first to find she was still in the arms of the beast, then she looked to one side and saw six more black dragons flying individually in the air, and one of them noticed her.

It had brown eyes in slit formation, muscularly fit, and had a small tuft of hair on the lower tip of its lower jaw, looking as if it were a goatee. The dragon stared suspiciously at Rita, though it didn't growl at her, however the sheer sight of the animal scared Rita instead, forcing her to cover her face back within her arms and up against the pudgy dragon's chest.

The green-eyed dragon looked down and noticed Rita became more frightened once again, but then actually started to hear her softly cry. Feeling Rita's fear, the dragon held Rita tighter in its arms and then purred in a soft and comforting tone, almost as if it were telling Rita that everything is going to be okay, and that she is safe.

Then, all seven of the dragons dived one hundred feet down as they came up to a large valley of mountains, looking as if it were New York City itself. They dived once more, entering through a section that looked as though it were the Tribeca area, following a route similar to West Broadway. Finally, the dragons arrived upon a large cave, almost the size of the Ghostbusters firehouse from the outside, and then the first six dragons flew and landed inside. It was a bit dark and empty; all the creatures walked in, feeling a bit tired after a long night's work of busting a large dragon specter and saving an unusual being from being eaten by it.

Moments after the first six dragons settled into their headquarters, the pudgy dragon was the last one to enter, still carrying Rita in its arms; then as it landed onto its hind legs, it gently placed Rita down to the ground and then stood on all four of its legs. Rita looked up as she found herself inside a dark cave filled with nests of the same black dragons that took her, and once more she felt completely scared. Then, a large wing covered over her a head looked down beside her; it was the pudgy dragon looming over Rita with its green eyes still in slit form, but didn't snarl at her or anything. Instead, it just softly growled at Rita, as though it were intending her to stay inside this cave where she can be safe with it and the others.

So then, the pudgy dragon walked away from Rita, leaving her in the middle of the cave. But then, as the dragon walker further toward an empty nest at the far left hand corridor, Rita finally calm herself down a bit and looked behind to see the cave opening. She then came to realize it was now her time to escape! Rita quickly sprang up to her feet and finally ran for her life!

Suddenly, the dragons noticed Rita fleeing toward the cave exit and began to roar, not in a ferocious manner, but more of fear. The pudgy dragon noticed Rita's escaping and then began to run, on all four legs, toward Rita.

Rita neared the one foot toward the exit, and just one second before she could finally escape, the pudgy dragon quickly grabs her by the collar of her uniform with its mouth and finally picked her up away from the cave entrance. It took her back inside, but at the same time Rita screamed in fear, not knowing what the dragon is doing.

"AAAAAHH! OKAY, OKAY, I WON'T DO IT AGAIN!" She cried.

The pudgy dragon took Rita over toward a large, half carved boulder and set her up against the smooth flat area of it. It then placed one of its massive, paw-like talons up against Rita's shoulder, covering her entire shoulder and half of her upper left chest, and it stared at her with those large green eyes, looking either disturbed or disappointed. Rita couldn't help it, she was so frightened out of her wits by everything she had went through in one day; she was sucked into a strange doorway that led her into an unknown universe that's somewhat populated with dragons, almost eaten by a ghostly figure that was the size of an elephant and a half, and ended up into a large cave with six other black dragons and is now being held hostage by the same dragon that's holding her now. All Rita felt she could do now is to meet her maker.

She started to shed one frightful tear as she continued to stare at the pudgy dragon, eye to eye, until she spoke. "Okay, I'm sorry; I-I'm sorry! I won't run again, j-just- p-p-please don't EAT me!"

The dragon didn't even move a muscle, it looked closely into Rita's eyes; it saw not just fear, or the tears she was crying, but it mostly saw something more. It began to feel a strange, yet warm feeling deep inside; somehow it felt there was something so familiar about Rita, as if she were a… familiar presence?

The creature's pupils slowly became round, indicating it was not going to hurt Rita; in fact, this dragon felt it was _never_ going to hurt Rita at all, rather… protect her? Slowly, the beast's paw began to turn sideways, up toward Rita's face like it were a hand preparing to gently touch a frightened child's face in comfort; and Rita _was_ the frightened child.

The dragon touched Rita's face very softly, letting her know it meant her no harm at all. Rita looked up at the dragon, despite she still felt very scared, but then finally noticed the innocence in its eyes. The dragon purred very softly to Rita, as though it were telling her it will _never_ hurt her, how she is safe, and that it promises to take care of her. Rita finally calmed down a little as the dragon finally lowered its paw to the ground. Then, it walked over to its left side and finally laid itself down onto a large nest for it to sleep in; it kept its head perked up as it stared at Rita, keeping its own eyes on her, letting her know it will always watch over her.

Rita stared at the dragon once more for a very long moment, until she looked away and started to unbuckle her proton pack and took off her Ectogoggles. She sat there in grief, somehow realizing she may never actually go back home, back to New York, back to the Ghostbusters firehouse, or even go back… into Ray's arms… ever again.

Uncle Ray.

Rita may never ever see him again, even after what she had said to him; she didn't mean to, she didn't know. He was only trying to protect her, from things like this. He only wanted to do what was right for her, and Rita didn't even see it.

So Rita cried softly once more, until she started to reach into her uniform pocket and pulled out a photograph. She took one long, momentous look at the picture; it was recently taken around one time when Ray took Rita up to Coney Island, to bring back the days when he and Rita would always be together no matter what. It showed Ray with his arms wrapped tightly around Rita as she wrapped her arms around her uncle. Both of them were smiling with joy, happy to be together.

… But not this time.

"… (Sniff) You were right… you were _right_…" Rita said softly with heavy tears.

As Rita cried more, she began to hear a low purr from right beside her. She looked up and saw the pudgy dragon once again standing beside her; somehow it couldn't help but hear Rita crying. It looked at the picture Rita held in her hands and then started to give a slight worried purr, but then Rita placed the photo back into her pocket and just sat there like nothing happened. The dragon, however, studied Rita's behavior and then realized she was homesick; as well as it felt Rita's presence somehow made it feel warm inside, like it knew a presence similar to Rita's. So, the dragon then gave an admiring smile and then lowered its head behind Rita's neck and started to grab hold of Rita's uniform collar once more with its jaw.

Gently this time, the dragon picked up Rita from the ground and carried her up like a female lion carrying her cub.

"W-What're you doing?!" Rita said, feeling nervous once more.

The dragon carried Rita by the collar and took her ten feet to its nest, where it gently set her down to the nest and finally laid itself beside her. It wrapped one of its large arms around Rita, letting her lay across it, and then it just stared upon her; a hint of a smile was seen on the creature's face, and its eyes were halfway closed, looking as if it were an admiring expression.

As Rita studied the animal's feature, she began to realize this dragon really is being protective, and at the same time she somehow felt she actually recognizes most of the dragon's personality, looking as if the dragon seemed very familiar to her.

The dragon purred softly to Rita, as though telling her it will never let go, and it promises it'll take care of her until she is safely returned home. Then it laid its head down to rest.

Rita somehow began to feel a familiar presence through her, and somewhat realized who it might be.

"… I know this might sound crazy," She asked possibly to the dragon. "… but why do I feel… like I already know you?"


	3. Chapter 3

_Part Three: A Stranger like Me_

_A_t the firehouse, all the recruits, Winston, and Egon waited at the ground floor for Ray's return as they all pondered to why Ray would leave the firehouse without his colleagues; especially when there's a crisis at hand. Rita was still missing, a real dragon appears before the 'busters around the same time, Peck is now on a paranormal hunting spree for some mysterious industry, and the Ghostbusters still needed to capture the escaped dragon before Peck would or else everything would be lost forever.

Five more minutes later, the firehouse doors open and Ecto-1 finally returned.

Ray reversed the vehicle back inside the building, parked it, shut off her engine, and finally exits the car with a hopeful grin on his face. Egon walked up to Ray with a slight disappointed expression as he asked.

"Ray where have you been; you were gone for over two hours and we had a major chance into finally capturing that creature from the museum!"

"That's exactly why I just came back Egon," Ray replied. "I finally got what we needed."

"What? You mean…" Oscar asked with a confused look.

"Open the back door; but please be careful, she's still a little frightened."

"… _She_?" All the Ghostbusters asked.

Winston opened the back door of Ecto-1, and a large black tail suddenly whips out to stretch after being crammed into the vehicle for a long while. Ray walked over to one side of the vehicle as he helped getting the dragon out of the cargo hold. He pet the dragon, comforting it to let it know everything's going to be okay, while he, Jenny, Oscar, and Elwood carefully took the dragon out of Ecto-1.

"Alright, easy with her, whoa;" Ray replied. "Whoa, watch it, be careful with the wings."

Moments later, as the colleagues let the dragon walk backward to get out of the car, the dragon finally exit out of the vehicle. It then began to stretch out its legs, tail, and its wings spread out wide, giving itself a good long, comfortable stretch after being crammed inside Ecto-1 for awhile.

"Wow, that thing is amazing!" Joseph said.

The dragon then noticed all the recruits' presence as well as Egon and Winston's; it started to snarl at them until Ray calmed it down and explained. "No, no, no it's okay; they're friends."

"What was that all about?" Oscar asked.

"She just got a little scared, that's all. I need to get her used to you guys." Ray said as he pet the dragon.

"Wait a minute; _She_? _Her_? Ray how can you be certain this creature is of a certain gender?" Elwood asked, slightly confused at first.

"It's definitely a girl Elwood," Jenny replied as she stood to her feet from kneeling onto the floor just moments ago. "Believe me I just checked."

"And, I know this might sound a little crazy," Ray continued. "But… as I'm near this dragon, I start to feel this weird familiar feeling that I can actually feel Rita's presence through this dragon."

"You mean this dragon really _is _Rita?" Oscar asked. "Rita was turned into a dragon once she was sucked through that portal?"

"I don't think that's the case Oscar," Elwood explained. "Egon and I looked up some more information about that portal through Tobin's Spirit Guide and crossed referenced in Spate's Catalog; it turns out that that portal is a sacrificial gateway for a very power God. According to some research, the portal was used to please a very powerful Norse God, back before Vikings and the mythologies of Odin came to existence; this particular God was unknown, but rumor has it that the God was definitely a more cruel and vicious, and a very snobbish being that would sometimes torture its worshippers by taking away their crops, provide less protection, and whatever else it could do to make them more miserable. So eventually, the most devoted of the worshippers created this gateway for the god because to them they felt a human sacrifice would please it and hope it would bring good fortune in the near future."

"What does all this have to do with Rita's disappearance and this little black dragon?" Winston asked.

"I was just getting to that;" Elwood continued. "Apparently, only five major sacrifices have been made ever during that time, and each one of those occurred at least once every half a century. What the worshippers do is carefully choose a perfect subject for the sacrifice, because at the same time as well the portal, itself, seemed to have developed a conscious mind of its own. The victim would then appear toward the portal, and if the subject was perfect enough the portal would then open like we just saw back at the museum, and finally suck in the victim altogether, never to be returned. Around the exact same time, a creature appears from behind the object once the sacrifice had been made; that, which is the dragon, is said to be a sign of thanks as well as it may bring everyone peace and gratitude. However, at most times, the dragon is accused of wrongful judgment moments after the sacrifice had been made."

"Wait, exactly what kind of _'perfect subjects'_ was this mystery God looking for as sacrifice bait?" Oscar asked. "You kinda lost me there."

"Traditionally, it was a virgin-"

"Oh brother; why is it always a virgin?" Jenny asked, shaking her head in a somewhat 'I knew it' gesture.

"Anyway," Elwood continued. "The God also chooses a victim that seems to also be more open minded, with a good heart, and sometimes be someone of spiritual interest. So I guess in Rita's case she's a little bit open minded as Ray here."

"She'll get a little pissy whenever she's annoyed sometimes;" Winston added. "But she really is a good and kind kid."

"And surprisingly she's starting to know how to connect with the supernatural while on the job better than I thought." Ray replied.

The little black dragon purred in agreement while Ray pats her on the head.

"So, that's pretty much it from what I gathered so far." Elwood finished.

"But El, isn't there any way we can reverse this;" Oscar asked. "I mean to get Rita out of that dimension and take that little guy back to wherever it came from?"

"I've tried to look up some more information on that, but so far… no. No, there's isn't another way."

As he heard that, Ray's own heart began to break. The dragon didn't feel too good either, she laid her head up against Ray's side of his body for comfort, but Ray himself became too traumatized.

"I'll keep looking over some more information however," Elwood continued. "It might take some time but for now we're just gonna have to get used to this little dragon here. I'm sure there's a possible way to take it back to wherever it came from, but from what I've read a while ago, there's absolutely no alternative route to reverse this. I'm sorry guys but… I think Rita's gone for good."

Now feeling very sick, Ray quickly cast his colleagues aside and ran upstairs; his hand covering over his eyes as he secretly, without his friends notice, began to cry. The other 'busters tried to stop him, trying to calm him down with positive words.

"Aw Ray, wait a minute!" Oscar cried.

"Ray, hold on!" Egon added.

"We'll get Rita back, honest!" Jenny replied.

But poor Ray had already disappeared into the stairwell.

Soon afterward, the dragon as well started to cry in a saddening manner. She started to back away, frightened and confused, until Jenny finally came up to the dragon and began to slowly pet her on the head, trying to comfort her. She spoke with a soft tone in her voice.

"Aw, don't cry little dragon; it's not your fault, _really_."

Then, her brother Joseph softly stepped up to comfort the creature as well.

"It's okay, we'll get you home little girl." He said.

Momentarily, Elwood and Oscar noticed the twins comforting the dragon, until Oscar finally stepped up as well. Elwood stared at his colleagues as they continued to comfort the dragon, but deep inside he did felt bad over the events of today.

"Wow. I've never seen Ray this upset in a long time." Winston spoke.

"Well… how do you think that dragon feels?" Elwood added. "She, as well as others before her was used just as much as the human sacrifices."

"He's got a point there," Egon replied. "Both our world and the dragon's seemed to possess a somewhat supernatural connection by the lifestyles as well as most other relations to the ways we live. So in this case, this dragon here must have a deep connection with Rita by the way she was chosen as a sacrificial objective; if we can perhaps look for a reversal polarity of the portal back at the museum, we may have a slight chance to let the gateway choose this dragon as the object, and at the same time give us Rita in return as claims of thanks."

Elwood then finished. "By that means we'll return the dragon through the portal without physical damage, reversing the negative effects as to hopefully have it exchange Rita in return."

"Well, okay that seems fair;" Winston replied. "But first thing's first; how're we gonna take care of this little dragon? Even without Peck finding her here?"

"Right; eventually Peck's gonna stop by here for an interrogation," Egon replied. "For now I suggest we should keep her in the subbasement, at least until we try to straighten things out."

Moments later, the female dragon started to perk up her ears. It wasn't because of what Egon explained, but rather she began to hear something else, something faintly quiet that only she is able to hear. She poked her head up, staring mostly at the stairs, and then she started to gallop up the stairwell away from the recruits, Egon, and Winston.

"Hey! W-What's wrong with her?" Jenny asked.

Upstairs, the female dragon galloped up to the second floor and entered through the recreational/laboratory area. She looked around until her ears perked up once more, hearing that faint sound once again; this time she looked straight ahead at the entrance of the bunk room. So the dragon slowly walked up toward the room, poked her head through, and finally noticed it was Ray. He sat on Rita's bunk, softly crying, and his head sulked in dread, feeling now he's lost Rita for good.

The female dragon slowly walked up toward Ray and finally approached him as Ray started to hear her reptilian purr; Ray stared at the dragon with tears stained to his cheeks as the creature purred softly to him, as though she were telling him all of today was _not_ his own fault. She then nuzzled close onto Ray's upper body, comforting him. Ray began to feel that warm feeling once more as he started to pet the dragon softly in comfort.

"I'm sorry…" He said. "… I'm just so _afraid_ of losing her. I didn't mean to be so overprotective, I just want her to be safe; I don't want to let go of her after what happened those years ago… I never wanted it to happen. If… she were here right now, I'd tell her… how much I still love her, and let her know I'll always be here for her… and she'll always be in my heart."

The dragon then snuggled more up against Ray's body. By his soft words the dragon let out a soft, comforting growl and raised her talon paw up onto Ray's lap. She sounded as though she were telling Ray how _he_ sounds a lot like someone she knows, and that now she misses _him_ very much. Then Ray pet the little dragon more and then wrapped his arms around her head, hugging the dragon in comfort.

He asked with a soft tone. "You feel very comfortable with me, aren't you?"

The dragon looked up at Ray with a smile on her face and growled in reply of how she is. Ray felt comfortable with the dragon as well, and he even felt she really is Rita, herself; at least the feeling of her presence.

Moments afterward, Egon and Elwood came in as they noticed Ray hugging the dragon in comfort. Both of the intellects interrupted their moment, of course not by purpose, but they needed to talk to Ray for a quick moment.

"Ray, I hate to interrupt," Egon started. "But we need to keep this dragon in hiding, just in case Peck ever stops by here for an interrogation."

"But where are we gonna put her?" Ray asked.

"For now we'll just have to place her in the subbasement; there's enough capacity down there where she can stretch and roam around."

"She can't stay down there the _whole_ time."

"You don't have to;" Elwood explained. "She'll only stay there if there are any interruptions from not just Peck, but also the authorities and the public as well. Besides, the subbasement has enough space for the dragon to eat and sleep there, provided she will be taken care of until we find an alternative route to bring Rita back."

"Okay, I guess that'll work for now." Ray replied. "But if there's gonna be any tests performed for any logical clues, _I'll_ be the one responsible for that. I promised to take care of this little dragon, and she's already trust me for it."

"Okay, but provide either myself or Elwood here require some assistance," Egon finished. "Hopefully she can trust us as well."

"And don't worry," Elwood said, gently reaching out to pet the little dragon in trust. "We won't ever hurt you; _I_ can promise you that."

The dragon purred in comfort by Elwood's reply.

At the interdimensional plane, Rita still stayed at the black dragons' cave as one of them, the pudgy dragon to be exact, continues to watch over her acting as though it truly was like a form of Ray Stantz. Soon Rita came to realize that the dimension, as well as the dragons that rescued her, is an alternate universe; and the black dragons that saved Rita are indeed the Ghostbusters of this plane of existence. Then all this time, the pudgy dragon is truly possible to be Rita's Uncle Ray Stantz.

The question remains however, is to how will Rita ever get out of this unusual dimension?

Later that afternoon, only six of the seven black dragons began to fly out of the cave, all preparing to seek out and find new spirit dragons to fend off away from their land, as they are truly the Ghostbusters in this dimension. Rita, out of curiosity, wanted to get out of the cave and follow the dragons, for somehow Rita had an unusual fascination with the creatures, themselves. So, Rita strapped on her proton pack and followed toward a black dragon with dark brown eyes with slightly long eyelashes to the sides, and its expression looked as if it were an impressed and versatile mood; and it had unusual markings around its eyes, paws, and its underbelly was a light brown/gray color as it stood graciously in front of the cave exit. This dragon looked as if it were a form of Jenny Zeddemore, one of the Ghostbusters recruits back in the human plane.

As the dragon prepared herself for flight, so did Rita; she waited a little longer as the dragon spread out her wings, which gave Rita the opportunity to jump on and ride like a horse. So Rita quickly but finally ran up to the dragon, and just when she prepared to jump at the final second, a large set of teeth appeared from the shadows behind Rita and quickly grabbed her by the collar of her uniform!

"Gurgk! Hey, what the-?!" Rita gagged a little by whatever grabbed her.

Sure enough, the pudgy dragon appeared, holding Rita by his mouth and just stood in the middle of the cave for the moment. Rita looked over and watched as the other dragon finally took off into the sky, following her colleagues that flew away as well. Now Rita realized she cannot leave the cave at all, not until the dragons at least find a way to take her back home.

Then, the pudgy dragon gently set Rita down to the ground and began to walk away, further into the cave. Rita however, seeing as to what had just happened, figured out that the pudgy dragon was indeed being just like her Uncle Ray Stantz; _overprotective_. She couldn't help but rage over the dragon.

"-W- Oh c- YOU TOO?!" She cried with a furious tone in her voice.

The pudgy dragon looked over at Rita with an awkward yet confused look on his face. He stared at her, listening to her complain of whatever she was talking about.

"Come on; for a moment I thought maybe in this dimension you'd let me explore around here on my own!" Rita cried in rage. "But nooooo… _you_ are just as bad as that old man from back home!"

By Rita's harsh comment of "old man," the dragon widened his eyes with shock, but then he sat onto his hind quarters and his expression quickly changed into an unimpressed and serious mood. He sat very upright in a serious and somewhat sophisticated manner, but stared straight at Rita with a disappointed snort. Rita, however, just stared at the dragon with her continuous look of anger; but then she quickly sighed and looked away for the moment.

"(Sigh) Whatever." She whispered.

Momentarily, Rita began to unbuckle her proton pack and walked toward the dragon's nest at the same time. She walked past the pudgy dragon; feeling disappointed and didn't bother to look up at him. Rita then set the pack down beside the nest and quickly flopped herself onto the nest itself, pondering over how she hardly does anything on her own.

"Pfft, I guess every dimension's the same;" She said. "No matter what it is, your own uncle still treats you the same. He doesn't trust you to do whatever you want, barely lets you do something on your own, and even thinks you're some kind of _Diamond in the Rough_ or whatever if he's always on your back the entire time. Well sorry but I'm _sick_ of it! Why can't he just face the fact that I'm not a child anymore; I could've handled those flying skulls and that giant ghost dragon myself if he wasn't in the freaking way all the time! This _never _would've happened in the first place!"

For some reason the pudgy dragon started to growl angrily at Rita, as though it were saying _You think _this_ is _my fault_?! _knowing now that Rita is truly acting like someone he knows. His growl startled Rita at first, but she quickly ignored the pudgy dragon and just sat there, pouting in grief. The dragon however in disappointment, felt Rita is just confused and frightened over the day; he growled at her softly but still felt furious by Rita's comment, as if he were explaining to her.

_If it wasn't for your actions today and stayed at headquarters like I told you to, _none_ of this would be happening! _You_ brought this on _yourself_ in which _I _was only trying to _prevent_ from happening!_

But Rita, despite she heard the dragon growl in anger, just continued to ignore him.

The dragon's expression changed from anguish disappointment, to a soft worry and saddening look, as though feeling he only wants Rita to understand why he's been overprotective of her. He snorted and purred softly, and then slowly growled tenderly at Rita, as though he were saying _You may not be little anymore, but you're still a child, you are _my_ hatchling in an unusually different form, but _my _child nonetheless. You'll understand someday why I do this for you; but until that time, until I take you back to your existence, you _will_ do as I tell you._

Moments later, the dragon then walked up to the cave's exit and then growled softly over his shoulder, calling to Rita. Rita looked over and saw the dragon growl just to get her attention. She looked as the dragon began to spread out his wings, somehow preparing for takeoff, but he growled softly to Rita once more as though telling her to come toward him. Rita didn't know what the dragon meant at first, but soon she realized what he was doing.

"Finally; time for some action-" Rita said as she grabbed her proton pack.

_**RRARGH! **_The dragon roared a little, seeing Rita grab her pack.

"What? What did I do?" Rita asked, confused.

The dragon softly growled at her, somehow saying _No, you don't need it_ as he stared mostly at the proton pack.

Realizing what the dragon meant, Rita took one look at her proton pack and figured out why the dragon growled.

"Oh come on; seriously?!" She said with an annoyed tone.

The dragon squint his eyes in a negative gesture.

"(Sigh) Fine;" Rita said and placed the proton pack down beside the nest once more. "You guys' blue fireball thing's cooler anyway."

Then Rita walked up toward the pudgy dragon and studied him for a moment. She walked underneath his right wing and came up to his upper shoulders, while the dragon lift up his right leg for Rita to quickly step on as she begins to climb over and sit onto his back like preparing to ride a horse. Despite Rita had no harness, saddle, or anything to hold on to, all she could think of now is to keep her arms wrapped around the dragon's neck the whole time.

"Okay, alright, I'm ready;" She said with a small nervous tone. "But could you please be gentle? I mean, this is my first time."

But then the dragon secretly purred with a devious smirk.

Suddenly, the dragon instantaneously took off out of the cave, diving head first with Rita clinging on for her life!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH HHH!" Rita screamed in fear.

Then, seconds before they'd hit the ground, the dragon quickly pulled up into the air and continued flying up with Rita screaming and holding on as tight as she could. The dragon slowed himself down after a flying speed of at least seventy mph after that first dive, and started to just cruise for a bit while Rita recovered herself from the first drop and just continued to hold on to the dragon.

"(Pant, pant, pant) Are you _crazy_?! You could've gotten us killed back there!" She cried.

But the dragon just deviously grinned, somehow as if he were actually doing this on purpose. So he started to lean over toward one side in midair as he tucked in his wings.

"W-What're you do- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Rita cried.

The dragon actually dove once again; this time heading right toward the open waters of what looked like Central Park of the New York valley both he and Rita were at. Instead of diving into the water though, the dragon swiftly opened his wings out wide like a sail and his legs all began to ski across through the lake like he were a water skier. The splashing waves flowed in between the dragon as he skied through, and Rita continued to hold on tight while the dragon began to take off into the air once more.

The dragon flew over toward a large canyon of stonehenges and other tall rock formations, and many of them were very sharp and pointy. So he flew at an incredible speed of over eighty-five mph right toward the valley! Rita looked up to see where the dragon flew next; her eyes widened with fear as she saw the many tall, sharp, and pointy rock towers and stonehenges. All Rita could do now is pray as the dragon flew at an amazing speed rate.

"I'MDEAD,I'MDEAD,I'MDEAD,I'MDEAD,I'MDEAD-" She cried.

The dragon suddenly dove through the canyon, twisting and turning through at a fast pace, passing through the sharp rocks!

"I'MDYING,I'MDYING,I'MDYING,I'MDYING,I'MDYING,I'MDYING,I'MDYING,

I'MDYING,I'MDY-!" Rita cried more as she continues to hold on for dear life.

Moments later, the dragon finally exits out of the canyon and headed up into the sky, slowing himself down a bit as he flew. Rita looked up once more as she noticed she and the dragon are once up again high in the air.

"I- I'm alive; I'm alive!" She panted. "T-Thank-thank you. Thank you God!"

Bust somehow, by the sinister expression on the dragon's face, he wasn't done yet.

Next up, the dragon started to spin around in midair, which started to make Rita feel a little queasy at first; until, he started to prepare himself for another dive, once more from over four hundred feet in the air. This time, both the dragon and Rita are right up above a large forest of rotting thorns!

"Aawwwnnooooo… !" Rita whined as she looked down.

Finally, the dragon dove head first while he spun around again in the air.

Rita screamed once more. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH HHH!"

The dragon dove further and further down toward the forest, until Rita finally cried, this time with fearful tears in her eyes. "O-Okay, OKAY! I-I'm sorry, I'M SORRY! Get me outta here, I CHANGED MY MIND! I WANNA GO HOME!"

By her fearful cry, and how she had apologized, the dragon's expression changed into a surprised grin and looked over at Rita, who kept her head down; her eyes closed and she hung on tighter around the dragon's neck. So the dragon quickly spread out his wings, causing him to instantaneously stop diving within a few feet close to the forest of thorns; he began to fly back up into the sky and started to decrease his speed rate, flying more slowly and more gentle now.

The dragon purred over his shoulder as though he were telling Rita _You can open your eyes now; you're safe. _Rita momentarily opened her eyes and slowly sat up onto the dragon's back, even though she still had her arms wrapped half way around his neck. She looked down at first, seeing how high she and the dragon are up in the sky; she panicked a little, but then she looked back up to see over the dragon's head, looking over at the view ahead. It was a very wide open area; mountains just across the other side of the New York City valley, some forests and other small woodland areas surround the many rivers in the valley, and the dragon even flew Rita over an open plain just across a clearer and cleaner version of the Hudson River. Rita gazed in awe by the wondrous beauty of the new world she's in, never thought a dimensional plane could be anything of a kind, even if it is under a supernatural concept.

Then, as the sun began to set, the pudgy dragon started to fly higher toward the clouds; Rita reached up and began to actually touch the clouds through her hand, feeling the soft but cool texture as the dragon flew onward. The dragon flew higher, crossing through the clouds and hovered right over until there was noting to be seen; but up there, Rita could see the sky covered with millions of stars shining brightly over her, and the aurora borealis appeared above as well. _Wow! _Rita thought, and then looked down as she saw the New York valley all lit up until the dragon gently flew down toward the area to get a closer look. Rita noticed more creatures flying all over the place like endless traffic; they were actually more dragons, but many of them were very different compared to the pudgy dragon. Rita then realized all these dragons are actually the many citizens of New York City; then, all the unusual lights are actually some fire lit torches all around the area, like street lights.

It was just like home to Rita, only in this dimension everything and everyone are in the form of dragons. And after tonight this is the one night she'll never forget.

As the dragon flew over the _city_, he turned gently to his right and began to ascend forward out toward the open waters of the Hudson River. A flock of unusual small reptilian birds with actual feathers flew over the dragon and Rita's head, one hundred feet up in the air, while the dragon casually flew over the river, out toward an open field just five hundred yards ahead. Rita, meanwhile, couldn't help but stay awestricken by her first flight.

"Wow! I mean, that's all I can say;" Rita said with an excited tone. "It's… so amazing here, it's so cool! Boy, will the guys be jealous or what if they see this."

Rita looked down at the dragon with a smile on her face; the dragon looked over as well with a grin, seeing as though he was happy to see Rita being happy as well. Rita then hugged the dragon in her arms and spoke once more.

"Thank you… for saving my life."

The dragon purred by Rita's warming gesture, as though he replied _You're welcome._

The next morning at the Ghostbusters headquarters, Ray was reading over Rita's notebook on her interest in dragons hoping to find clues and hints on finding any resources on bringing Rita home. But so far, nothing like that was found. Then Ray took a look over at the female dragon, who was just enjoying her breakfast of some fresh raw, but smelly, fish; he smirked a little, knowing for sure that the creature truly is Rita, herself.

Then, Oscar came by, seeing Ray sitting on the floor next to the female dragon as they were down in the subbasement at the time; he brought in a large bail of hay and set it down onto the far corner of the room where a large nest of hay had been set up, mostly for the dragon to sleep on. Afterwards, he watched as the dragon chomped and swallowed whole of the last few morsel of her breakfast.

"I got to admit she can really take down a meal just like Rita does," Oscar giggled. "But manages to stay thin; how does she do that?"

Of course, there was no reply from Ray as he was too concentrated on reading the notebook. Oscar notices the book and finally asks.

"What'cha reading Dr. Stantz?"

Ray finally replies, noticing Oscar's presence. "Oh. Well, this is actually Rita's notebook; I found it underneath her bed. It's some kind of interest manual talking about almost everything relating to dragons."

"Huh. I never thought Rita would actually have an interest in something." Oscar said.

"I didn't even know she would be interested in something like _this_; wow! She really does take on after me."

"And _that's_ where I start to worry; seriously, does like each member of your family take an interest on one creature of the supernatural or something and make up a business out of it?"

Suddenly, Janine came rushing into the subbasement with a worried look on her face.

"Dr. Stantz, Oscar, you two need to come up stairs quick!" She cried.

"What's wrong?" Ray asked.

"Walter Peck is here, that's what's wrong."

"Aw shit!" Oscar panicked. "We gotta hide the dragon!"

"Now hold on, don't panic;" Ray replied. "As long as we keep the subbasement locked, the dragon's gonna be fine, and Peck won't come anywhere near her. Now let's get going."

As Ray, Oscar, and Janine all left the room and locked the door, the little black dragon walked back in fear, not knowing what to do.

Soon as Ray locked the door, he began to feel uncomfortably sick inside himself. He stared listlessly at the door, until Oscar snapped him out of it.

"Hey, come on we gotta get rid of Peck!" He said nervously.

"I just hate to leave her alone like this." Ray replied with a nervous tone.

"Ray the dragon's gonna be fine; as long as we keep that Peck guy upstairs, we won't have any trouble. Now come on, let's go."

So Ray and Oscar rushed upstairs and then quickly changed into casual walks, pretending nothing had happened.


	4. Chapter 4

_Part Four: Experimentation_

_W_alter Peck stood a couple feet in front of Janine's desk with a very disturbed expression on his face, not feeling very happy to be at headquarters but he just somehow desperately wanted something from the Ghostbusters; perhaps something from yesterday?

"All right wise guys, where is it?" He asked with an impatient tone.

A quick moment of silence later, Jenny finally replied with calm but half of a nervous tone in her voice. "Where's what Peck-?"

"Don't you give me that tone young lady," Peck interrupted. "Just tell me where you and your friends are hiding that thing you little brat."

"Hey, hey, hey don't talk to my kid like that," Winston remarked, setting his daughter, Jenny, aside him. "What the Hell's wrong with you man?"

"Seriously, why are you even here?" Elwood asked.

"Funny thing to ask;" Peck explained. "You see about late afternoon, yesterday, one of you bozos have taken a certain creature from the museum just after it escaped. Isn't that right, Dr. Stantz?"

"Me? What did I do?" Ray asked, confused.

"Admit it, I saw you loading that animal into your car back at Central Park and drove off like a bat out of Hell!"

"Okay; what're we talking about here?" Oscar said as he acted a little confused.

"That black creature; t-that _thing_, the- what the Hell is it? - Dragon; that black dragon! I know you clowns are hiding it somewhere around here!"

"Oh, that dragon; never heard of it."

Peck then slapped his hand onto his face and slowly slid it off him with an annoyed but angry expression. Elwood finally replied, trying to prevent Peck from killing Oscar.

"Mr. Peck, please excuse Oscar's mishap, but why are you so concerned of that dragon? Besides, none of us were present at Central Park not even Ray was there; it could've been some random Ghostbuster-wannabe in a replicated vehicle loading something dark."

"That's right; you know how fans are these days." Winston added.

"Well if you must know," Peck explained, calming himself down a little. "I am now part of an organization that hunts down and reveal the identifications of the so-called _'supernatural'_; and your little dragon is an example of disruption and chaotic distortions to the public."

"Hm… The last time you were involved with some organization, you were the one that almost destroyed the military base." Egon added.

"Say whatever you want, but rest assured I _know_ what I saw yesterday. You all won't keep that dragon in hiding forever, no; because when I get my hands of that monster, you'll be wishing you never exist."

By the harsh comment of "monster", Ray suddenly prepared to spring up after Peck to fight, but Oscar quickly grabbed him and held him back, preventing any trouble.

"No don't; we're doing well so far, she's fine." He whispered, careful not to let Peck hear.

Ray then calmed down.

"We mean it Peck; we don't have this dragon in custody." Egon said. "Even if we did, we'd have gotten rid of it already."

"Besides, it's probably long gone by now." Oscar replied.

_**THUD!**_

A very loud thud vibrated the floor of the main floor, and it was definitely coming from downstairs. Peck asked with a quick tone in his voice. "What was that-?"

"Nothing." Oscar replied with a quick tone.

Peck then gave a suspicious look by Oscar's reply. Ray quickly elbowed Oscar in the ribs to make him say something else.

"-That is (ahem), I mean…" He continued. "It's probably some boxes falling; I'll go take care of it."

But the strange thud emerged again, along with a couple different sounds.

_**THUD! CREAK! CREAK! THUD, THUD!**_

"There it is again!" Peck said. "What's going on? Is there something downstairs?"

All the Ghostbusters shrugged, pretending none of the noises occurred.

"I don't know, heh; mice?" Jenny said.

Peck just stared at Jenny. Then, he quickly jogged over to the basement entrance; Oscar quickly jumped in his way but Peck pushed him aside and just continued on downstairs, entering the basement. He stood in the middle of the room, looking over to see nothing but the large containment unit and some equipment lying around the corners of the room. Oscar then ran up to the front of the unit as Peck neared to search for whatever's down there, but surprisingly he wasn't aiming for the unit this time.

"See, there's nothing down here;" Oscar said. "T-there's really no need to-"

But then, Peck sees a new door just across the other side of the basement. He then walks furiously toward it with a sinister grin.

"Aaaannd there he goes again." Oscar said, pointing at Peck.

With a quick pace, Jenny charged up to the new door just as Peck came within a couple feet toward it.

"Hold it man; don't you think you're taking this a little too far?" She asked. "I mean think about this for a moment, we're just talking about something that isn't real right? Seriously, do you really believe there's a dragon down here?"

The mysterious thud emerged once more, and this time it sounded louder and echoed through the door Jenny stood in front of. Peck quickly grabs Jenny by her shoulders and gently but with slight force pushed her aside. He began to forcibly jiggle the doorknob to open the door itself, but it wouldn't budge open, as it was locked tight.

"(Grunt) Why is this door locked?!" He cried.

"Because it just is?" Oscar replied with a slight giggle.

"Don't you start; now open this door immediately!"

But the Ghostbusters didn't bother to move a muscle.

"Come on, open this door or I'll have you all suspended for disruption of an authorized court-ordered investigation!" Peck cried once more in frustration.

The Ghostbusters did not move for the next couple minutes, until Ray slowly closed his eyes, took in one long deep breath, and finally pulled out the keys from his pants pocket. He slowly held them up toward Peck, which finally caught his attention in an instant; Peck snatched the keys from Ray's hand and began to fiddle with finding the right key to the door. At that moment, Ray's own heart suddenly shattered.

Peck fiddled a little longer with the keys until he finally opened the door. With the Ghostbusters following behind, Peck rushed down another set of stairs and finally entered through the final door, arriving into the subbasement. Nothing but pitch black darkness and the aroma of fish was only found in the subbasement; no dragon or any other creature were present in the area.

"Damn, isn't there a light switch or anything down here?" Peck asked.

"I don't think that's gonna help," Egon replied. "The circuitry of this sublevel died out over three decades."

"Just gimme a damn flashlight, will ya?!"

So Oscar pulled out a large silver flashlight from an emergency case hanging beside the basement's in and out door way and handed it to Peck. He snatched the torch from Oscar's hands and switched it on, pointing the light toward the wall on the other side. Peck searched around every area of the subbasement; from all the cornerstones of the rear, to every capacity of the empty crates that were scattered mostly around the right wall and pillars. He even searched through the bale of hay nest that was set up at the far corner, even though it reeked of fish carcass. Alas, _nothing_ was found.

"Ugh! What's that smell?!" Peck whined. "What're you people doing down here?!"

"… It's a… science experiment;" Elwood replied. "Our predecessors were just teaching us the… uh fundamentals of… uh…"

"How ghosts and fish have similar smells and why they also have similar slime-like appearances." Oscar said.

"(Nice save, Oscar.)"

"(Thanks.)"

"And why do you have the bale of hay and this nest?" Peck asked.

"… Um… I just like to sleep in anything made of hay?" Jenny said.

Peck just stares at the recruits with a very confused look on his face. But then he tossed the flashlight back to Oscar, madder than a stressed teenager, but then only stomps up toward Ray.

"I don't know where you're keeping this thing, but I know you are not gonna keep it in hiding forever." He said.

"Believe me Peck, whatever it is you're looking for you won't find it here." Ray replied with a considerate tone. "And I can assure you I won't be the one responsible for the actions you pull if you ever do catch it, whatever it is."

Peck just stared at Ray until he finally pushes the parapsychologist aside and ascended upstairs, not even to bother saying another word, surprisingly.

Moments after Peck was finally gone, Jenny quickly shut the door and locked it for now. She spoke with a now worried tone. "Seriously guys, where is she?!"

"The dragon was here just minutes ago, what could've happened?" Oscar asked.

"Okay, everybody don't panic; I'm sure she's still around here somewhere." Egon replied. "Winston, you turn on that backup light switch."

So Winston walked over into a small room and found a small circuit box; he opened it and found a light switch, fairly new, and started to turn it on. The subbasement lights flickered on from built in deck lights hanging around most corners of the area. Then all the Ghostbusters split up, looking for the little black dragon.

Several minutes later, as the men and Jenny searched all through the subbasement, Ray suddenly felt small particles of dust and wood chippings fall onto his head. He looked up after brushing off the pieces from his hair and suddenly notices an unusual dark misshapen silhouetted shadow underneath him. He looked up to see a large wooden support lined straight across five feet toward the ceiling, connected to a pillar; but he noticed the wood creaked slightly but held up strong, as though something was on it. Ray looked closely as he tries to figure out what it is.

"Crap! We can't find her Ray!" Joseph said.

"This is impossible; she couldn't have just waltz out the door, Peck would've spotted her by then-" Elwood replied.

"Shh!" Ray hushed.

All the other colleagues stood silent after Ray's shush, but noticed he was looking up at the ceiling. They stood there, confused, until they heard Ray speak.

"It's okay; you can come down now. He's gone!"

Then all seven of the Ghostbusters started to hear a sudden but faintly soft growl from atop the ceiling, until a pair of green eyes appeared from the darkness, looking down at Ray. It was the little black dragon, she was hiding atop one of the interiors of the ceiling; so then she hopped down to the floor and started to nuzzle across Ray's face and licked him, like she were an excited dog.

Ray chuckled. "Okay, okay, easy girl; I'm glad he's gone too."

"So… she was up there the whole time?" Joseph asked.

"That's one smart dragon." Egon remarked.

Later that day, Oscar and Joseph were checking over the contained green ghost, Slimer, assisted by Winston as he was teaching the boys about the basics and qualities of ectoplasmic containment. The little black dragon, meanwhile, was just sniffing around the area but noticed the men standing in front of the small containment unit. She noticed Slimer inside the contraption, but just tilts her head to one side in confusion; of course Slimer noticed the dragon, as well as he tilts his head in confusion.

"Okay, so remind me; why do we have to keep this oozing blob of slime in this separate containment unit?" Oscar asked.

"Well, mainly it was Egon's idea;" Winston explained. "See, he wanted to use some in-depth researches and test some of his experiments on this ghost for, you know, future generations. And that's where you guys come in."

"I heard you guys keep samples of so-called _'different types of ectoplasm'_; how can ectoplasm be different?" Joseph asked. "It's just a sticky substance produced by ghosts, right?"

"Well you are right about that son; but we discovered back in '89 some ectoplasm can be effective in numerous ways." Winston continued as he picked up a small plastic container filled with some pink material inside. "Here's an example; this is what we call the _'mood slime'_, Ray and Egon said this particular type is active by the good or bad emotions."

"Emotions?"

"Wait, so… if I call that pink glop some bad names, it would attack me or something?" Oscar replied, confused.

"Sort of; would you like to test it out?"

"Yeah."

"Sure, what the Hell."

As Winston soon opened the lid of the container, the pupils of the black dragon's eyes suddenly formed into silts. Then as Oscar, Joseph, and Winston prepare to test the slime they hear the dragon growl angrily from across the room; the men looked over and sees the dragon snarl viciously, arches her back up slightly, and even spread out her wings wide as if she were preparing to take off in the air.

"Whoa; what's wrong with her?" Oscar asked.

Suddenly, the dragon leaped out and roared viciously toward Winston and the recruits!

"Boys, get down!" Winston cried.

Oscar, Joseph, and Winston all dodged in separate directions as the dragon charged; Slimer just hovered there in the unit, freaking out as the dragon charged closer to his location; so he turned cowardly to a corner and hid, but then the dragon stopped within inches and began to quickly look around. She noticed Oscar and Joseph standing in fear by the front end of Ecto-1, but snorted as though knowing the boys are not what she was after. The she heard Winston from behind.

"Guys, go upstairs and get Egon now!"

The dragon turned and noticed Winston's presence, but she also noticed the container filled with pink slime. Then, she charged once more, heading toward Winston!

"DAD!" Joseph cried.

Within inched, the dragon neared closer, until…

"GRAB HER!" Oscar cried.

Both Oscar and Joseph grabbed the dragon by the tail, while Joseph then grab hold of her head and wrestled her down to the ground. Oscar took hold of the dragon's wings and back legs and held her down as best as he could. Soon the dragon was in the boys' grasps very tightly.

"Keep her down like that; I'm gonna go get Egon and Ray!" Winston cried.

Soon as Winston placed the plastic lid back onto the container with the mood slime, the dragon's eyes suddenly formed normal, but then completely collapsed right onto the floor.

_**KA-PLUNK!**_

"Hey, what gives?!" Oscar asked as he still held onto the dragon.

"Did I just pull a secret hamstring?" Joseph asked.

Winston felt a bit confused as well. "What the…?"

Momentarily, the dragon softly purred in a somewhat dizziness statement.

Winston then placed the plastic container on Janine's desk and began to creep up to the dragon's head. He then knelt down on the floor and reached out his hand.

"Dad, what're you doing?" Joseph asked with a worried tone.

"Joseph, son, I want you to let go of the dragon." Winston replied with a calming tone.

"But what if she bites you-?"

"Just let her go."

So Joseph slowly and carefully lets go of the dragon's head and took a quick step back. The dragon slowly lifts up her head and notices Winston's hand reaching out toward her face; so, she finally pressed her nose against his hand, and Winston softly began to pet her, hearing her purr in comfort as well as she knew to trust him. The questions began to puzzle Winston however; what just happened? How did it happen? And why did it happen?

"Joseph, go upstairs right now." He said.

"Dad?" Joseph asked. "What if…?"

"She's fine; just get everyone down here now."

So Joseph finally rushed upstairs.

Winston continued to pet the little black dragon awhile longer and then spoke once more. "What was that all about?"

"I have no idea;" Oscar replied as he let go of the dragon's tail. "But it would be really great… if she didn't… do it… again."

"You mean to say she actually… _attacked_ you?!" Ray cried with a worried tone in his voice.

"Well… not necessarily…" Winston explained. "All I know is I was just about to show Oscar and Joseph how some different types of ectoplasm have different reactions and so I wanted to have them test out its bad vibes for a moment, and then all of a sudden as if by instinct or whatever the dragon started to charge at us."

Elwood, meanwhile, was checking over the dragon's physical conditions and dentures; but so far he found nothing in which caused her to snap at Winston and the boys.

"Hmm… No spots, no infections, no abnormal disorders of the cavity, no skin irritations; as far as I can tell, this little dragon's healthy as a lark." Elwood explained as he finished examining the dragon's conditions.

"But what exactly set her off is the question." Joseph asked. "All I know is dad was about to have myself and Oscar test out that mood slime and-"

"Mood Slime?" Egon asked with a shocked expression. "Wait a minute; Winston you said the dragon charged you as if by instinct right?"

"Yeah? I guess so." Winston asked, confused.

"Where'd you put that container?"

"What, the slime? Egon, what does that got to do with-"

"Just hand it over, I think I know what made this dragon snap,"

So Winston walked over to Janine's desk and picked up the small container filled with the pink mood slime he set down once before. He gave it to Egon, and Egon began to study the container but mostly concentrated on the little black dragon, who just sat there with her head tilted to the side, feeling a bit confused.

"Kids, go hold down the dragon as tight as you can." Egon said.

"Hold her down? Why?" Jenny asked, confused as well.

"Just hold onto her; I think I know what made the dragon set off her attack."

So Oscar, Elwood, Joseph, and Jenny all began to gently and carefully grab hold of the little black dragon and held her tight as they could. The little dragon made a confused purr, wondering what the Ghostbusters recruits were doing; then again, the rookies themselves have no idea what Egon was planning.

Then, Egon removed the lid of the container as he stood five feet in front of the dragon, face to face. In a quick instance, the eye pupils of the dragon's suddenly formed into a pair of slits; she began to snarl viciously as well as she even started to charge, but was held back by the recruits who all began to notice the unusual change of expressions on the creature.

"Whoa! What the-?!" Oscar cried.

"Hold her! Hold her!" Elwood exclaimed.

Despite the strength, the black dragon inched as hard as she could closer to Egon, somehow aiming toward the pink slime in the container.

"Egon, what's the point?! (Grunt) I can't hold her much longer!" Jenny cried as she held onto the dragon as tight as she could along with her colleagues.

"Just watch carefully," Egon explained as he finally placed the lid back onto the container.

Soon the dragon suddenly returned to normal, and started to purr softly as she calmly sat on her hind quarters. The recruits didn't know at first why she was acting so cranky, until momentarily noticed it had something to do with the pink slime itself.

Then, Egon opened the container once more and held it up toward the dragon, causing her to growl and sneer viciously as if she were in attack formation. Egon closed the container, making the dragon calm once again; then once more, Egon opened the jar and the dragon began to snarl and growl very angrily, until Egon quickly closed the object again and the dragon quickly returned to normal.

Egon studied the dragon momentarily, thinking of her reactions each time he opens the container. He then looked over at Ray, who had been awestricken a little by the whole process, but knew for certain something needs to be done.

"I believe we'll need to confirm a rigorous test." Egon said.

About an hour and a half passed; all the recruits gathered around the little black dragon as they strapped on a large saddle around her upper chest and back area, securing it on tight as if she were a horse. Then Ray and Egon came downstairs as they were in the laboratory earlier; Ray is seen fully dressed in his khaki uniform, strapped on with the ghost trap, the arm pack, and a walkie-talkie that's hooked up to his belt. He was actually the only one in preparation for a possible involvement with the little black dragon, perhaps a flight test?

"Egon, are you sure our little friend here won't have a neurological breakdown from this test?" Ray asked as he adjusted his arm pack, along with some of the other smaller equipments strapped onto his uniform.

"It's hard to say;" Egon explained. "Considering the fact this dragon had just triggered a somewhat sensory system tactic that may have something to do with the psychomagnotheriac plasm. So to confirm this test, we'll have to release our science experiment out into the city, testing whether or not the dragon may be an exact connection with the ghosts and apparitions. Though I fear this test may cause a slight 50/50 chance of possible attraction to the public, but as long as you are in control of her Ray, then hopefully no reports will be confirmed at a later time."

"But isn't there another way to tell of her enragement that was simultaneously caused by the appearance of the mood slime?"

"I'm afraid not at this point; all you have to do is study the abhorrent behavior of the dragon and what the pinpoint causes of her sensory mechanisms are. Maybe, if I'm correct, it'll help us find a clue on the whereabouts of Rita."

"… God, I hope so." Ray whispered, trying hard not to expose his emotions.

Then Ray finally walked up to the little black dragon, seeing how she was strapped on with the saddle and was prepared for the experiment. At first Ray didn't want to go through with this, feeling something might go wrong if anyone actually sees the dragon. Luckily though, it was just past the sunset hours and _hopefully_ no one will notice. So Ray begins to grab hold of the saddle, preparing himself to climb on but at first he softly pets the dragon in comfort and he whispered with as soft tone in his voice.

"Are you ready?"

The dragon purred softly in a positive agreement.

"Okay. Here goes nothing."

Then Ray finally climbed onto the dragon's back and settled on tight, keeping himself straight as he sat. The dragon kept herself strong; despite the little extra weight she now carries on her back, but was rather confident in the activity that's going to happen soon.

"Okay, Ray you need to put this over the dragon's head for a moment;" Winston said as he handed Ray a large empty sack and then looked over at the recruits as they stood beside the dragon. "Egon and I are about to go release that green spud in just a few minutes. Kids, all of you need to hold down the dragon to the ground once more."

"Oh boy, I don't like where this is going." Jenny said.

So the recruits began to hold down the dragon by the legs while Ray placed the empty sack over her head, making her not see the ghost once it's released. The dragon whined at first, confused to what was going on until she heard Ray whisper. "It's okay, you're not gonna wear this for long." So the dragon finally calmed down as Ray placed the sack over her head.

Then Egon and Winston walked over to the small containment unit where the green ghost, Slimer, is contained inside; both men reached over to each side of the contraption, grabbing hold of emergency levers, preparing themselves to release their living science experiment.

"Alright, is everybody ready?" Winston asked.

All the recruits and Ray agreed in their preparation; as well, the recruits all held the dragon down very tightly as she began to spread out her wings slightly.

"Okay. Three… two… one… release!" Egon cried.

Winston and Egon instantaneously pulled down the levers, causing the containment unit's main glass door to open and Slimer immediately began to fly out, but noticed the dragon starting to react to her senses by its presence. Then it finally flew over to the dragon, looking at her at first, but then the dragon suddenly began to snap its jaws rapidly even though the sack was still on her.

"Janine, open the main doors!" Egon cried.

Janine reached over to her desk and slammed her hand onto the main button, causing the firehouse doors to finally open slowly. Slimer didn't even move at first, but then Oscar noticed the ghost still hanging around and so he finally spoke with a jokingly tone.

"You'd better run squirrel!"

And so Slimer finally flew out of the firehouse.

"Wait for it… wait for it…" Egon said as he checked over his watch, as well as letting the recruits hold down the dragon a little longer. "Okay _now_; let her go!"

All the recruits finally let go of the dragon, jumping out of the way, and Ray finally lift the empty sack off of the dragon's head. The dragon's pupils formed into attack mode, spread out her wings, and then she instantaneously took off out of the firehouse with Ray holding on tightly onto her back! Ray couldn't help but scream in dreadful fear as the dragon flew higher and higher above the city. All the recruits, Egon, Winston, and Janine all rushed outside, seeing the dragon and Ray fly higher above the city, almost unable to even see them anymore.

"Wow! Look at her go!" Oscar cried.

Over one thousand feet up in the air, the dragon flew in midair and started to look around at the moment, examining the entire area of Tribeca; then Ray still held onto the dragon very tightly, at first scared out of his wits by the sudden takeoff, until momentarily his walkie-talkie began to go off, hearing Egon's voice.

"_(Zzztt) Ray? Ray, what's going on? What's happening?!"_

Ray turned on the device and replied with a slight panicking tone. "Egon?! The dragon's just starting to examine over the designated area; she's just starting to get used to the outside! Right now I believe she's about to engage a primary targeting sense on finding our living science experiment!"

"_Just stay on her and examine every single movement she does." _

"Okay. Over and o-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa ahhhhhhhhh!"

The dragon suddenly dove right down into the city, somehow sensing Slimer's presence.

Around the corner of West Broadway, a young boy with short dark brown hair with bangs hanging to the side, dark green eyes, dressed in a forest green long sleeve shirt with a linen dark brown vest, black denim jeans, and a pair of Vans product sneakers was seen walking a black, green eyed, Labrador with a collar tag entitled _"Toothless"_. They were just walking around the streets, minding their own business.

"Come on Toothless, hurry up with your personal business so I can meet up with Astrid down at the coffee shop." The boy said.

Then Toothless's ears perked up in fear, hearing something from behind. He started to whine in dread; somehow it was as if he knew something was coming.

"What is it boy? What's wrong?" The boy asked, noticing the fear in his dog's eyes.

Then a sudden moaning came from behind the boy and Toothless; both of them turned to see Slimer actually flying right toward them, but luckily the boy and Toothless dodged as Slimer whizzed right over their heads, but looked up to see Slimer disappear into the streets.

"Whoa! What was _that_?!" The boy asked with shock.

Toothless began to bark, but the boy stopped and calmed him down at the moment. Then, behind the boy and Toothless, Ray and the dragon are seen flying right toward them as they continued to chase Slimer around the neighborhood!

"LOOK OOOUT!" Ray cried as he steered the dragon to pull her up.

Once more, the boy and Toothless dodged to the ground while Ray and the little black dragon soon whizzed right over their heads and finally disappeared into the streets, staying on Slimer's tracks. In shock, the boy looked up to see the dragon and Ray disappear; he just sat there on the ground at first with Toothless standing beside him, then he finally spoke with a concerned look of dread on his face.

"I told Astrid before and I'll say it again; I did _not_ want to leave _**Berk**_."

Minutes later, Ray and the little black dragon soon caught up with Slimer, who was heading right into a very dark alleyway just at the far corner of Fifth Avenue. Soon the ghost stopped right in the middle of the area until it was suddenly hit by a large surge of fire, able to affectively weaken its stamina. The black dragon finally landed a few feet away from Slimer and started to let out another fire ball at the ghost, taking it down to the ground. Slimer weakened increasingly by a couple more fire blasts, almost as if he were about to finally deteriorate all together.

"Wow! This is amazing;" Ray cried as he checked over Slimer's condition with the PKE meter. "It seems the dragon's firepower is able to take down an entity in just a few blasts; the surgical power force looks to have a similar effect to the particle throwers, only this is twice as powerful!"

But the dragon however didn't want to stop her assignment; the closer she got to Slimer, the more she fired her weapon at the entity, weakening it much more dramatically. Ray soon realizes that if Slimer takes in one or more blast from the dragon, it could be possible Slimer _will_ be gone for good.

"Hold it! Stop!" Ray cried as he finally hopped off the dragon and calmed her down. "It's okay; you finally got him, calm down. I'll handle the rest."

The dragon finally calmed down, but snorted a little only by the sheer appearance of Slimer, himself. So Ray finally pulled out the ghost trap and wrangled in Slimer; he stomped onto the mechanism, operating the trap as it starts to open, and it finally took in Slimer. Afterwards, Ray picked up the full ghost trap and placed it back onto his belt.

Momentarily, the dragon nudged against Ray's shoulder and purred, almost as if she were saying she was sorry how she overreacted. Ray pets the dragon in comfort and replied with a soft tone. "It's okay girl, I understand. You're acting as if you really _are_ a Ghostbuster; I mean the fire you kept breathing out had the same basic particle span as that of the particle streams of the proton packs. Boy, will Egon _flip_ when he finds out about this."

Speaking of which, Ray's walkie-talkie went off just in time.

"_(Zztt!) Ray? How'd it go? Did the dragon produce any negative or positive effects on our science experiment?" _Egon asked with a slight frantic tone.

Ray picked up the mechanism and replied. "Egon? It actually went very well. You're not gonna believe what just happened, I wish you and the others could've seen it, it was awesome! Apparently the dragon's fire power had a strong effect on Slimer; it was able to weaken more of its PKE levels faster than the effects of the proton packs, and get this the dragon's fireballs had a very similar proton based equivalence as that of the particle streams of the neutrona wands. I think we have a very unique animal version of a Ghostbuster here-!"

Egon replied, but somehow with an unusual tone of a deadpan emotion with a hint of worry though. _"That's great Ray but save the analysis for later; get the creature back here at headquarters as soon as possible, we've just got a call from the curator back at the museum and he wants us all to attend there immediately." _

As Egon signed out, there was suddenly a dark chill running through Ray's skin, feeling as though something worse is going to happen sometime soon once he and the dragon returned. So Ray placed the walkie-talkie back onto his belt, until he heard the little black dragon purr with a slight confusion in its tone, as though it was wondering what was going on.

"What? It's probably just a routine checkup around the museum exhibit from yesterday, nothing serious really." Ray remarked, petting the little dragon. "Tell you what; let's go take a quick flight around Manhattan before we catch up with the others, how 'bout it?"

The little black dragon yipped with glee and suddenly started to quickly lift Ray up through his legs, letting him stumble right onto her back. Ray sat up on the saddle, setting himself comfortably for takeoff; he spoke with a calming tone, trying to calm the little dragon down a little bit from her excitement.

"Okay, okay, take it easy girl. (Chuckle) Let's get going."

So the black dragon finally took a small running start, spread out her wings, and finally lifted off high into the sky with Ray holding on, but this time he didn't feel as frightened as before, but finally enjoyed the adrenaline rush of flying high into the sky. Still, as the dragon flew onward around the city, only one deep thought occurred through Ray's mind; even throughout the entire experimentation of the dragon's attack formation, all Ray could think about the entire time… is the safety of his young niece Rita, hoping and praying she's still alive on the other side.

"… Oh Rita… I _wish_ you were here to see this." He sighed as a small, single teardrop slowly shed down his cheek.


End file.
